m^-^: 



M 



MM 



Wk 



mm. 



m^ 



P: 





















\.--^ 






%i|y ■ ,^, ^"% ^%^..- / ^''.^ -.^K.^ ,,, ^^ 






r^. 



•V' 



o. 



":^- a'^' 



'^^ 



^■. 



^y o •-;.'. ^> 






■- A 






>, % 



. ' '." " ''- :■ O . 






■--> -,', 









<o- 



vO' 



-^. 



...v 



.0' 









^-u 






/■> 





'•b^'v 


J -^ 




'-' . ,-\' 




■■<:-, 


-t^v: 


c-^' _ 


'<■ 'V 


o '' 


'///■■\ 




.••? " 





,')■: '■ 



.A 






',/- ,^'> 



^ ^'-f-ry .p 



'1-/ " ^0 -^, 









' ,vv ' 



■^"^. ,A 



^.'^^:^v>\o'^ 



a'^ ■'";;■ "I'"' 









-^b 



^/- .^'^ 



V-':.: 



-o ^^:fV^•^^ ,0^^ 



.>p' 



.'^ y.r_ I '■;^.\ X-}^---'' ~ , V->.^ 



■71 <J 



, Ci * 












^^' 



■\'^ 



A' 



.0' 









O- 0''' 












A^-^ ^^'i/?f^m^ .cf^^lr. 



^.^■■^ X'-'^'.<^' ^</--?'>^-J' -^-^^^-v* 



.0' 






^ 



>P-r 



^^'.0^ 



,^^ . 






V 'V 



H 



X---Z.-:.X---\/^'V-'-->°''X 



\i %^<' ; -o..-^^ 






\* -V <<> •, 



■^■\ 



.^^ 



.0 . " o 



o 






^^ 



.N^' 



0^ -^.^ 



N^ -^ *-'^i^y^- ^0 



V 






o 









.'Jv 



'/% ^>#^f:^ ,/'% 'M:^::^.^ ■>>' 



'I o 









* X\J ft''-'-",,, • -Jo 



-I c. '^ c3 









,0' 



-^^^ 



A 



> 



'bV' 









'o^ 






A 






.^'^ 






o > 



^0 



V 



X^-n 



'^, 



4o_ 



"^<^ 



,0- 









0^ 



v->. 



<^^ 

•^^ 






^* 



o 



>. 



o 



V 'X. 



-S V- 



.A 






^0" 



- ^~-'^. 



o^ '.j^lf'*'^* ^^0 ' "'^^ ^M\\|§"/^ ^^Y^' 



.<.y 












o 



.0 



-.^"' 



.^•• 









A- 






,V 



^^ 



' ,0 



^• 






\ "t^o^ c" 



,4o^ 









^y -' V '- 









*>^. 









\0 V" 






"•^0^ 



A^ 



4 o. 



A 






V, *- « ' 






*- 










^■^ ./• 


^ «;;: 






■ .<:>- ^^ 


- ^' 




aV 



THE 



HISTORY OF PRINCETON, 



WORCESTER COUNTS, MASS. 



FROM ITS FIRST SETTLEMENT; 



WITH A SKETCH OF THE 



PRESENT RELIGIOUS CONTROVERSY 



IN THAT PLACE. 



DESIGNED FOR THE USE OF THE INHABITANTS. 



BY CHARLES THEODORE RVSSELIi. 



Let us first learn to know what belongs to ourselves, and then if we have leisure, cast 
our reflections back to the reign of Shonou, who governed twenty thousand years before 
the creation of the moon. Goldsmith 



BOSTON: 

PRINTED BY HENRY P. LEWIS. 

1838. 



THE 



HISTORY OF PRINCETON, 



WORCESTF.R COUNTV, MASS. 



FR03I ITS FIRST SETTLEMENT; 



WITH A SKETCH OF THE 



PRESENT RELIGIOUS CONTROVERSY 



IN THAT PLACE. 



DESIGNED FOR THE USE OF THE INH.UJITANTS. 



BY CHARIiSS THEODORE RUSSELIi. 



litit us first learn to know what belongs to ourselves, and then if «e have feisurf, ra^st 
our refleclinns back to the reign of Slionou, vviio governed twenty thousand years before 
the creation of the moon. CJolosmith. 



BOSTON: 

P n I N T E D BY HENRY P. L E W I S. 

1 838. 



4^r 

^1 



THE INHABITANTS OF PRINCETON, 



AT WHOSE REqilF.ST, FOR WHOSE TTSE, AND BY WHOSE AID, 



I HAVE vvritte<:n' this hasty SKKTCH, 



IT IS NOW RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED. 



PREFACE 



The history of a town, and that not a conspicuous one 
among its neighbors, cannot be expected to contain much of 
general interest. Aware of this fact, I have endeavored to 
keep it constantly in view, in the preparation of the accompa- 
nying hasty sketch, which now seeks the preservation of the 
press, without tlic notoriety of publication. I have aimed 
only to write a "plain, unvarnished tale," and, having nothing 
to amuse the stranger, have studied only to interest the inhab- 
itants. In this, I am far from confident of success. If I have 
entirely failed, I can only wish my readers an abundant share 
of that happy disposition, of " taking the will for the deed," 
in which, at least, I hope for security. As I have written 
in the hurried intervals of more pressing employments, fol- 
lowing, in most cases, as nearly as possible, the language of 
the documents and persons, from whom my facts come, I have 
not aimed at any embellishments. That the accompanying 
pages should be elegant, I cannot hope ; that they may be 
fully inteUigible, is all I expect. 



CONTENTS 



CHAPTER I. 
Original divisions of the territory. Purchase of the Indians. Purchase con- 
firmed by the General Court. Division of the twelve miles square of the 
Indian purchase. Rutland East Wing. Watertown Farms. Incorpora- 
tion of tlie District. Situation aud Boundaries. First Settlement. Loss 
of Robert Keyes's daughter. Dr. Harvey. First Town Meeting. Loca- 
tion of Roads. ------------ I 

CHAPTER II. 

Character of the first settlers. Of the New-England people generally. Prov- 
ince Lands. Petition for Incorporation as a Town. Act of Incorporation. 
Opposition of Town to any addition of Territory. First Representative to 
the General Court. Early Town Meetings. ------ 13 

CHAPTER III. 

Education. First Schools. Division of the town into School Districts. 
Erection of School-houses. Re-division of the town. Present Appropria- 
tions for Education. English and Classical School. Scenery. Wachusett. 
Little Wachusett. Pine Hill. Waters. Products. Statistics. - - 20 

CHAPTER IV. 

Ecclesiastical History. Introductory remarks. First preaching in town. 
Organization of the Church, 1764. First Meeting-house built, 1762. Call 
to Mr. Goodrich, 1766. Call to Mr. Fuller, 1767. His Reply and Settle- 
ment. First Deacoiis chosen. , Present to the Church. Troubles with 
Mr. Fuller. Committee's Letter. His Final Dismissal. Suit vs. Town. 
Verdict for Defendants. 31 

CHAPTER V. 
Invitations to Mr. Litchfield and Mr. Hubbard to settle in the ministry. 
Settlement of Mr. Crafts. His Letter to the Town and their Reply. 
Dismission. Call to Mr. Goodrich. Erection of a new Meeting-house. 
Mr. Russell's Settlement. His Letter to the Town and Dismission. Set- 
tlement and Dismission of Dr. Murdock. Troubles at the Settlement of 
Mr. Clarke. Separation in consequence of it. Mr. Clarke's Letter. - 46 



VIU CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER VI. 
Call of a Council by the majority of the Church. Organization of a Society. 
Invitation to Mr. Bond. Invitation and Settlement of Mr. Phillips. His 
Letter. History of the Baptist Society. Mr. Clarke's Dismission. First 
proposal for a Union of the Congregational Societies. Settlement of Mr. 
Cowles. Dismission. Farther measures for a Union. Call of a Council. 
The Result. Proceedings upon it. Mr. Phillips's " Appeal." - - - 6S 

CHAPTER VII. 

Further proceedings for a '' Union." Secession of a portion of the Church. 
Mr. Phillips's Letter. Attempts at a Reconciliation. Proposition of the 
Disaffected Members. Replies. Second Proposition of the same. Reply. 
Vote by the Church to call a Council. Mr. Phillips's Letter. Inquiry from 
the Disaffected Members. Reply. Result of the Council. Proceedings 
of the Disaffected. Settlement of Mr. Demond. Universalist Society. - 91 

CHAPTER VIII. 

Political History. Revolutionary Services. Resolutions in 1773. Instruc- 
tions to Representative, 1774. Bounty to Soldiers. Imperfect Report of 
a Committee on Revolutionary Services. Declaration of Rights. Subse- 
quent Political History. 107 

CHAPTER IX. . 

Biographical Notices. - ..._. 115 



HISTORY OF PRINCETON, 



CHAPTER I. 



Original divisions of the territory. Purchase of the Indians. Purchase confirmed 
by the General Court. Division of the twelve mile square of the Indian pur- 
chase. Rutland East Wing. Watertown Farms. Incorporation of the District. 
Situation and Boundaries. First Settlement. Loss of Hobert Keyes's daughter. 
Dr. Harvey. First Town Meeting. Location of Koads. 

Princeton, as now constituted, embraces within its terri- 
tory three distinct tracts of land, formerly known as " Rutland 
East Wing," The Watertown Farms," and some public pro- 
vincial lands contiguous thereto. The earliest account we 
have of either of these, is in 1686. On the 2-2d of December, 
of that year, Puagastion of Pennicook, Pompamamay of Na- 
tick, W^ananapan of Wamassick, Sassawannow and Qualipunit 
of Natick, five Indians, who claimed the ownership of the 
soil, in consideration of twenty-three pounds of the then cur- 
rency, gave to Henry Willard, Joseph Rowland.son, Joseph 
Foster, Benjamin Willard, and Cyprian Stevens, a deed of a 
tract of land twelve miles square, going under the general 
name of JS'aquag, and bounded as follows : '" The south cor- 
ner butting upon Muscopauge Pond, and lunning north to 
Quanitick and to Wanchatopick, and so running upon great 
Watchusett, which is the north corner ; so running northwest 
to Wallamanumpscook, and so to Quapuanimawick, a little 
pond, and so to Asnaconcomick Pond, which is the north- 
west corner ; and so running south and so to iMusshauge, a 
great swamp, and so to Sassakataffick which is the south cor- 
ner." This deed, signed and acknowledged by the above 
named Indians, is recorded in the Registry of Deeds of Mid- 
dlesex County, April I4th, 1714, V^ol. xvi. p. 511, Worcester 
County not having been incorporated until 1731. 



2 HISTORY OF PRINCETON. 

The portion of territory thus conveyed embraced what is 
now Rutland, Oakham, Barre, Hul)bardston, the greater part 
of Princeton, and about one half of Paxton. It comprised in 
all 93,160 acres. Whether this deed gave to the grantees 
an indisputable legal title to the soil it purported to convey, 
especially at this time when our legislators and courts were 
not noted for being peculiarly conservative of Indian rights, 
is doubtful. It was probably worthless. Prior occupancy, 
by the natives, was not recognised as creating any fee in the 
soil. The doctrine was, that the right of discovery vested all 
lands, mediately or immediately, in the Crown. As, there- 
fore, this portion was included in the grant to the Massachu- 
setts colony, any conveyance of it by the Indians was invalid, 
unless sanctioned by the Provincial legislature. And so the 
original purchasers seem to have regarded it. For we hear 
nothing of the deed subsequent to its date, until 1713, when 
the General Court, on petition of the sons of Simon Willard, 
and the other heirs of the grantees named in it, passed an 
order, " That the lands in the Indian Deed, and according to 
their butts and bounds, be confirmed to the children of the said 
Simon Willard, deceased, or to their legal representatives, and 
associates, provided that within seven years time there then be 
sixty families settled and sufficient lands reserved for the use 
of a gospel ministry and schools, except what part thereof the 
Hon. Samuel Sewall, Esq. hath already purchased, and that 
this orant shall not encroach upon any former grant or grants, 
nor exceed the quantity of twelve miles square. The town 
to be called Rutland and to lye in the County of Middlesex." 
The purchase, with the exception of 1000 acres owned by 
Mr. Sewall, being thus conditionally confirmed, was dis- 
tributed among the heirs of the original purchasers in thirty- 
three shares. In December, 1715, a meeting of the propri- 
etors was held at Boston, and a vote passed to survey six 
miles square of the territory, for the settlement of the sixty 
families mentioned in the order of 1713. This portion, which 
was granted to settlers gratuitously, now composes the town 
of Rutland. 

Of the remainder of the twelve miles square, one portion, 
known as " The JNortheast quarter of Rutland," was, in 1767, 
erected into the town of Hubbardston ; a second portion, call- 
ed " Rutland District," became, in 1774, the town of Barre ; 
a third, styled " Rutland West Wing," was incorporated in 



HISTORY OF PRINCETON. 3 

1762 as the town of Oakham ; a fourth part, with an equal 
tract from the town of Leicester, became, in 1765, the town 
of Paxton ; while the remaining portion on the east, origin- 
ally called "Rutland East Wing," and comprising 11,626 
acres, now constitutes the southerly and greater part of 
Princeton. This tract, the only portion of the original pur- 
chase with which we arc materially concerned, is bounded 
on the south by Rutland and Holden, on the west by Hub- 
bardston, and on the north and east by the line separat- 
ing it from the " Watertown Farms," and which is described 
in the Indian deed as running from " Wanchatopick," (now 
called Rutland Pond,) to " Great Watchusett." This line 
crosses the Boston road near the " Great Maple" at the foot 
of the " Whitney hill," and running in a northwesterly direc- 
tion, leaving the farms occupied by Jabez G. Read and Har- 
low Skinner to the north, constitutes the dividing line between 
those of Caleb Mirick and Samuel Hastings. After reaching 
the height of land near INIr. Enoch Brooks's, it again pursues 
a southeasterly direction and meets Hubbardston line on the 
land of Ezra Brooks. 

The land comprised within these limits was surveyed for 
the proprietors, divided into farms of two hundred and 
thirty-seven acres each, and numbered by letters, two hun- 
dred and fifty acres, which now constitute the " Pout-water''^ 
and " Letter M'' lots, being undivided. Of the proprietors 
the Rev. Thomas Prince, then colleague pastor of the Old 
South Church, Boston, and whose name is perpetuated in that 
of the town, was by far the most extensi\*e, owning something 
like three thousand acres, most of which subsequently came 
into the possession of the late W. N. Boylston, Esq. The 
first conveyance of any portion of this territory, subsequent to 
the Indian purchase, in 1686, was made by a committee of 
the original proprietors, chosen at the above-mentioned meet- 
ing, in Boston, in 171.5, and intrusted with the absolute con- 
trol of the concerns of the proprietary. 

The second portion of the territory, now included in the 
town, was the " Watertown Farms." This was a tract of 
about three thousand acres, granted, tradition says, by the 
General Court to the town of Watertown to aid in building 
and maintaining a bridge. I find, after diligent inquiry, no 
record existing of the grant, nor any act or clue, by which 
its date, or specific purpose, other than that above stated, can 



4 HISTORY OF PRINCETON. 

be ascertained. It dates, probably, about the year 1745, and 
was regarded as of little or no value. The line bounding it 
on the north and east, ran from the north boundary of 
Rutland East Wing, beginning at a stake and stones in the 
" pine woods" on land of Col. John Whitney, nearly due 
north to a stake and stones, still existing, at the corner of 
lands owned by Dea. Israel Howe, James Brown, and for- 
merly by Charles Gregory, now by Daniel Parker. Thence 
it pursues nearly a westerly direction, crossing the county 
road near the milldam of James Brown, and passing a little 
to the south of Dea. Howe's dwelling-house, over the top of 
Pine hill, to the easterly side of Wachusett. Whence it pur- 
sues a crooked southerly course, on the side of the mountain, to 
the aforesaid line of Rutland East Wing, which it meets at a 
stake and stones on land of Enoch Brooks. This tract was 
sold by the town of Watertown to sundry proprietors. At a 
meeting of these, soon after the conveyance, a committee, of 
whom I believe Jonas Harrington, grandfather of the present 
Capt. Benjamin Harrington, was chairman, was chosen to 
survey the territory, and divide it into (arms of equal value. 
This accounts for the inequality in extent of the lots, some 
containing nearly double the number of acres of others. After 
the completion of this survey and division, the lots were num- 
bered and drawn by the original proprietors, some of whom 
settled on the farms thus obtained, while the greater portion 
made a second conveyance of them to settlers. 

These two tracts, in all comprising about 15,000 acres, on 
petition of the inhabitants and proprietors, in October, 1759, 
were erected into a District, under the name of Prince Town, 
by the following act of the General Court : — 

" Anno Res;ni Reo;is Gcororii Secundi 

. • L. S 

Tricesimo ' ' Tercio. 

An Act for erecting the East Wing of Rutland, so called, 
in the County of Worcester, and sundry farms contiguous 
thereto, lying between Lancaster and Narraganset number 
two, into a separate District by the name of Prince Town. 

Whereas a number of the Inhabitants and Proprietors of 
the East Wing of Rutland, in the County of Worcester, and 
the proprietors and inhabitants of sundry Farms contiguous 
thereto, lying between Lancaster and Narraganset No. 2, have 



HISTORY OF PRINCETON. 



represented to this Court many difiiculties they labour under, 
and praying that they may be made a seperate District. 

Therefore, he it enacted by the Governor, Council, and 
House of Representatives, That the said East Wing of Rut- 
land, so called, and sundry Farms lyini^ contiguous thereto, 
containeil within the bounds hereafter mentioned, be and 
hereby is erected into a distinct and seperate District by the 
name of Prince Town : — viz. beginning at the northwest cor- 
ner of Lancaster second Precinct, being also the southwest 
corner of Leominster, from thence running north 54 degrees 
west seven hundred and sixty rods to a heap of stones upon 
the line of Narraganset No. 2, from thence running west 
thirty-five degrees south seven hundred and eighty-eight Rod 
to the southern corner of said Narraganset number two, then 
turning and running southeast fifty-six Rod to the northeast 
corner of said Rutland East Wing, then turning and running 
west thirty Degrees south eleven hundred and sixty Rod, on 
the northwest line of said Wing to the westerly corner of said 
Wing, then running south thirty-nine degrees east sixteen 
hundred and seventy Rod, being the dividing line of the first 
settlers part of Rutland, and the said Wing to the southerly 
corner of said East Wing, then turning and running east 
thirty-five degrees north eleven hundred and fifty rods on 
Holdin line to the corner of said East Wing, Holdin and 
Shrewsbury, and from thence running on the same point three 
hundred and ninety Rod on Shrewsbury line to the River, 
and from thence bounding on Lancaster second Precinct to 
the first mentioned bounds, and that the said District be and 
hereby is invested with all the Privileges, Powers, and Immu- 
nities that Towns in the Province by Law do or may enjoy, 
that of sending a Representative to the General Assembly 
only excepted. 

Provided, nevertheless, and he it further enacted, That the 
said District shall pay their proportion of all Town, County 
and Province taxes already sett or granted to be raised on the 
Towns of Rutland and Lancaster as if this act had not been 
made. 

And he it further enacted, That William Richardson, Esq. 
be and hereby is empowered to issue his \\ arrant to some 
principal Inhabitant of said District requiring him to notify 
and warn the inhabitants of said District qualified by Law to 
vote in Town aftairs to meet at such time and place as shall 



b HISTORY OF PRINCETON. 

be therein set forth to choose all such ofiicers as shall be 
necessary to manage the affairs of said District. 

October l^t/i, 1759. This Bill having been read three 
several times in the House of Representatives — 
Passed to be enacted. 

S. White, Spk. 

October }6th, 1759. This Bill having been read three 
several times in Council — 
Passed to be enacted. 

A. Oliver, Sec'y. 

October 20th, 1759. By the Governor. 
1 consent to the enacting of this Bill. 

T. POWNALL." 

The district tlnis incorporated, and which now constitutes the 
main part of Princeton, took its name from the Rev. Thomas 
Prince, then colleague pastor of the Old South Church, Bos- 
ton, and whose only surviving daughter subsequently married 
the Hon. JMoses Gill. It is situated forty-eight miles north of 
west from Boston, and about an equal distance east from the 
Connecticut river, being the heighth of land between the 
two. It is fourteen miles northwest from Worcester, and 
bounded as follows: On the east and northeast, 1921 rods, 
on Notown Gore, and Sterling, from which it is separated by 
Still river ; on the north and northwest, on Westminster, 
1002 rods ; on the west, by Hubbardston, 1568 rods ; south 
by Rutland, 1714 rods, and on the east again, by Holden and 
Sterling, 1614 rods. It consists of a rough, mountainous, and 
rocky soil, well adapted to grazing, but brought into success- 
ful cultivation only by the most active and patient industry. 
It was originally covered with a prodigious growth of timber, 
many beautiful lots of which are still standing undisturbed by 
that inveterate forest's foe, the Yankee axe. Grass was also 
produced at the early settlement of the town, in great pro- 
fusion, on the low and wet lands. Such, however, was the 
unyielding ruggedness of the soil, that the early settlers were 
long dependent on the neighboring to\\ns for most of their 
supplies. 

The first settlement on this territory was made in the year 
1739, by .loshua Wilder, on the farm owned by the late Pea- 
body Houghton. During the early part of this, or the latter 



HISTORY OF PRINCETON. 



part of the preceding year, Mr. Wilder removed from Lan- 
caster to Princeton, and clearing a small spot, beside the brook, 
a little east of the present farm-house, erected thereon a block- 
house, in which his family for a long time resided : In fact I 
believe until the sale of the land by I\Ir. Wilder, in 1760. Mr. 
Wilder was a saddler by trade, and the son of Capt. Nathan- 
iel Wilder of Lancaster, a man somewhat renowned in the 
annals of his time and town for his temerity and facetiousness. 
He married a daughter of Maj. John Keyes of Shrewsbury, 
who was also no little famous " in his day and generation." 
During the French war, somewhere about the year 1760 or 61 , 
Mr. Wilder purchased a large number of cattle for the pur- 
pose of driving them to Canada, and disposing of them at a 
profit, to the English army. This intended speculation, how- 
ever, was a total failure. On his arrival at its place of desti- 
nation, with his stock, the war was so far concluded that he ■ 
found no sale for it, or at least none at any adequate price. 
He returned, broken in property, and sold his farm to Benja- 
min Houghton, who owned the adjoining land, and with whom 
he had some litigation as to their respective boundaries. Soon 
after this he removed to Belcherlown, then Cold-Spring, where 
he died in 176-2. JNIiss Sarah Wilder, his fourth child, was 
the first white person born in Princeton. Her birth occurred 
in 1739. In 1762 she was married to Thomas Meriam of 
Westminster, and was the mother of the Meriams at present 
residing in that place. She died in 1819, at the advanced age 
of 80 years. The descendants of Miss Wilder recollect hear- 
ing their mother frequently speak of gathering blueberries in 
company with others on the Meeting-house hill, with a file of 
soldiers to protect them from the Indians, who seem however 
to have been more feared than existing. No Indians appear- 
ed here, as I can learn, after the first settlement, except those 
who were friendly, and had become domesticated with the 
whites. Certainly none ever appeared with any hostile inten- 
tions. The natives, who had become familiar with the whites, 
for some years subsequent to 1739, visited the Wachusett for 
the purpose of obtaining medicinal roots and plants. Perhaps 
in the earlier part of this period an occasional band of more 
ferocious character might do the same. 

jMr. Wilder's probably preceded all the other settlements 
by six or eight years. Indeed, it is doubtful whether any 
others were made prior to the year 1750. when Mr. Abijah 



8 HISTORY OF PRINCETON. 

Moore commenced the farm, near the Post-Office, at present 
owned and occupied by IMaj. Joseph A. Read. A short time 
after his settlement, Mr. Moore, who was quite a conspicuous 
character both in church and town, opened a pubhc house, 
which was the first ever kept within the place. The third 
settler was Mr. Cheever, father of the present Lieut. Cheever, 
on what is now known as the Cobb farm. Mr. Robert 
Keyes and family moved from Shrewsbury to this place in 
1751, and were the fourth, and not, as is often supposed, the 
first family settled. They settled on a farm at the foot of 
Wachusett, on the extreme northern border — the same now 
owned by Luther Goodnow. Mr. Keyes died March 1, 1795, 
aged 84 years. On the 14th of April, 1755, a daughter of 
Mr. Keyes, about five years old, attempting to follow two of 
her sisters, who had gone to Wachusett pond, about a mile 
distant, for some sand, and having no guide but marked trees, 
wandered from her way, and became lost in the forest. The 
people for many miles round immediately collected and 
searched through the woods for several days, but without suc- 
cess. The neighboring pond was also repeatedly dragged. 
Nothing was however discovered of the child. The conjec- 
tures as to its fate were various, the most prevalent being that 
it was carried off by a straggling party of Indians on a visit to 
the mountain. This was made more probable by the story of 
two men, who went some years after this occurrence from 
Groton, on a trading expedition among the Indians on Cana- 
da line. They related, on their return, that they found living 
among the Indians a white woman, who knew nothing farther 
of her birth or parentage, than that she once lived near " Chu- 
sett hill.'''' This well substantiated would leave no doubt but 
this was the lost child of Mr. Keyes. Exclusive of this in- 
stance, and this problematical, our early settlers suffered noth- 
ing from the hostility of the natives. 

The first settler in the westerly, and tlie fifth in any part of 
the town, was Oliver Davis, grandfather of the present Col. 
John G. Davis. IMr. Davis settled about the year 1751, on 
what is now called the " Clark hill," and possessed both of 
enterprise and mechanical genius, in which respects his man- 
tle has fiillen upon his descendant, fhd much for the early ad- 
vancement of the new settlement in the mechanical arts. He 
purchased a tract of land of one thousand acres, lying in Prince- 
ton and Hubbardston, and built a saw-mill on a branch of 



HISTORY OF PRINCETON. 9 

Ware river, running from Rutland. This was the first appli- 
cation of water power to mechanical purposes in the town, or 
the immediate vicinity. He also built soon afterwards a grist- 
mill on the river, a short distance below where the Valley 
Village mills now stand. This was burnt, and a saw and grist- 
mill subsequently built by him on or near the same site. 
He also built some of the first mills in Hubbardston. Mr. 
Davis had fourteen children ; of these, three enlisted in the ar- 
my at the commencement of the revolutionary struggle, and 
one, Micah, sealed his devotion to his country's cause, by a 
death on the battle-field. Mr. Davis died January 25th, 1803. 
His descendants still retain possession of a portion of his orig- 
inal purchase. 

In the early part of 1752, there were probably only five 
families permanently settled in town, and these living in the 
rudest and least comfortable manner known to civilized life. 
During this and the four following years several families set- 
tled, or rather farms were commenced, preparatory to a settle- 
ment, by the heads of them. For it was not often the custom 
of a new settler to burden himself with a family, until he had 
cleared his potato-field and corn-patch, built his block-house, 
and in general " got wherewith to make the pot boil." Among 
the settlers at this time were a Mr. Norcross, on the farm now 
owned by Israel Everett ; Mr. Peter Goodnow, on the spot 
where now stands the dwelling-house of Charles Russell, Esq.; 
Caleb Mirick, on the farm occupied by his son ; Samuel 
Nichols, on the farm of Enoch Brooks ; Mr. Mede, on the 
farm of Ephraim Osgood ; Joseph Eveleth, on the farm of 
Capt. Benj. Harrington ; Samuel Hastings, on the farm now 
owned by his son ; James Mirick, on the farm of Col. Moses 
Gill ; J\Iessrs. Gleason & Gibbs, on the spot where the Hotel 
now stands : a Mr. Stratton also commenced a farm where the 
meeting-house is now being erected. Among the settlers in 
the westerly part of the town, after Mr. Davis, were Seth 
Savage, David Parker, Charles Parmenter, Timothy Keyes, 

Joseph Rugg, Rosier, Cowdin, Thos. Mason, Isaac 

Thompson, and Col. Benj. Holden. In 1755, the number of 
families permanently settled was not more than ten or twelve. 
At its incorporation, in 1759, there were, as I learn from a 
little sketch which I found among a mass of unfiled papers in 
2 



10 HISTORY Ol' PRINCETON. 

the town clerk's office, hastily written on the back of an old 
petition,* thirty fatnilies in the district. 

The first physician settled in the town, was Dr. Zachariah 
Harvey, who commenced, about the year 1759, the farm now 
owned by Dea. Ebenezer Parker. Dr. Harvey was the first 
district clerk, and seems to have filled most of the important 
offices, being, in 1761, no less than moderator of the town 
meetings, district clerk, chairman of the board of selectmen, 
first assessor, and agent to the General Court, for which latter 
service he received from the town 11/. I also find, in the 
warrant for a town meeting in 1762, the following gentle hint 
to the doctor and some of his delinquent friends, to quicken 
their treacherous memories, and awaken their slumbering con- 
sciences in regard to certain previous promises, which, in the 
frailty of human nature, all men on some occasions are liable 
to forget. " 5th. To see if Dr. Zachariah Harvey, and others 
that bid any thing as an encouragement to build the meeting- 
house where it now stands, will be os good as their promises 
and give security for the same, or if the District will act any 
thing thereon." No action seems to have been had upon this 
article. Possibly this admonition brought tbe doctor's con- 
science at once to its duty, or may be the district thought the 
matter not strictly of legal cognizance, and left it to be settled 
" in foro conscienliae." Farther than this I have been able to 
learn nothing of his history. The first store in town was 
opened at a much later period, by Wm. Richardson, Esq. a 
tailor by trade, but who, sinking his former profession, removed 
from Lancaster to Princeton, and commenced business in a 
store near where the village hotel now stands, in 1771 or '72. 
He was town clerk for one year, in 1774. Previous to his 
removal to Princeton he had been commissioned as a justice of 
the peace, the functions of which office he continued to exer- 
cise until his death. 

The first public meeting in the district, other than for relig- 



* This appears to be a first copy of a petition of Jonas Beaman to the 
Court of Common Pleas, for liberty to sell some land in Shutesbury, belong- 
ing to Elijah Wilde, a ward of his. On the back of this is a short history 
of the town up to the time of Mr. Crafls's dismission, 1791. It is in the 
handwriting of Wm. Dodds, Esq. and covers a closely written foolscap page. 
I am indebted to it for one or two important events in the early history oi 



the town. 



HISTORY OF PRINCETON. 11 

ious worship, was called in accordance with the last clause of 
the act of incorporation, by a warrant from the above-mention- 
ed Wm. Richardson, then of Lancaster, directed to Dr. Har- 
vey, as " a principal inhabitant," ordering him to notify the 
inhabitants to assemble for the election of district officers. 
This meeting was held at the house of Abijah Moore, on the 
24th of December, 1759. A few pages are missing from the 
first volume of town records, and the account of the proceed- 
ings of this meeting is consequently lost. It appears, however, 
from certain official documents, issued by them, that Dr. 
Harvey was chosen district clerk, and Messrs. Peter Goodnow, 
Abijah Moore, Dr. Harvey, and Joseph Gibbs, selectmen. 
These officers were elected only until the IMarch following, 
when, as now, the regular meeting for an election was held. 
As, however, political changes were not quite as frequent 
then as now, no alterations were probably made in the list. 
The first "March meeting" was held in 1760. The first, of 
which the proceedings are on record, was in 1761. At this 
meeting all the usual town officers were chosen, a list of whom 
is transcribed from the records for the amusement of some of 
the elder portion of my readers. Dr. Zachariah Harvey, 
Moderator. Dr. Zachariah Harvey, t). Clerk. Dr. Zach- 
ariah Harvey, Joseph Gibbs, Lieut. Abijah Moore, Timothy 
Moseman, Selectmen. Dr. Zachariah Harvey, Abijah Moore, 
Peter Goodnow, Assessors. Peter Goodnow, Treasurer. 
Caleb Mirick, Sadey INIason, Constables. Samuel IN'ichols, 
Joseph Rugg, Tythingmen. Paul Mathews, Stephen Brig- 
ham, Silas Whitney, Tilly Littlejohns, Timothy Keyes, High- 
way Surveyors. Robert Keyes, Clerk of the Market. Sam- 
uel Hastings, Amos Spring, Fence Viewers. James Mirick, 
Oliver Davis, Field Drivers. Robert Cowden, Edward Wil- 
son, Deer Reeves. Amos Powers, Samuel Hastings, Hog 
Reeves. Abel Ray, Surveyor of Boards and Shingles. 
Stephen Brigham, Sealer of Leather. Peter Goodnow, Tim- 
othy Moseman, Wardens. Dr. Zachariah Harvey, Agent to 
the General Court. At the bottom of this list of officers is 
the following : — " This may Certify that all the above officers, 
Except Timothy Keyes, were duly Sworn as the Law directs. 
Respecting the takeing of the paper Currency of the other 
Governments, and the Respective Oaths belonging to Each 
of their offices. 

Test. Zachariah Harvey, Moderator." 



12 HISTORY OF PRINCETON. 

It would seem also from the following protest from the re- 
cords, exculpating the signers from any participation in the 
corruption, that there was some trouble at this meeting : — 

" We, the subscribers, Inhabitants and freeholders of Prince 
Town District, judging the annual meeting in Prince Town 
District on the 16th of March, 1761, to be illegal, by reason 
of the meeting not being purged from such persons or voters 
as are unqualified by law for voting, we do therefore hereby 
enter our dissent against said meeting, it appearing unlawful. 

Signed, James Thompson, Oliver Davis, 

Isaac Wheeler, Capt. Eliphelet Howe, 

Ephm. Allen, Sadey Mason, 

Wm. Muzzy, Gideon Fisher. 

Prince Toivn District, Mar. yc \6th, 1761." 

At this meeting the District first attended to the matter of 
roads. Previous to this a petition had been sent to the Gen- 
eral Court, praying them to grant a land tax to enable the 
inhabitants to construct roads, and build a meeting-house. 
This was granted to the amount of 337/. and town roads were 
first laid out by the Selectmen, in 1762. Of these, the first 
completed was, in the language of the records, " A road from 
Westminster line thro' Allen's farm, thence on the line be- 
tween the Wing and Farms so called ; thence thro' the land 
of Mr. Moses Gill and Caleb Mirick, to the meeting-house ; 
thence thro' lots Letter B, No. 9 & 12, Letter H G, No. 22, 
to Holden line." This road, when completed in 1763, pass- 
ed directly by but two houses exclusive of the meeting-house ; 
one where the new meeting-house, and one where the hotel 
now stands. Soon after this, many of the other roads now 
existing in the town were built. Of the manner of locating 
these, at this early day, the following, taken at random, is a 
good specimen. It is taken from the warrant for March meet- 
ing, as late as 1774. "To see if the town will accept of a 
road laid out by the Selectmen, beginning at a Butternut tree 
marked, in Mr. Moseman's land, thence running to a Poplar 
tree marked, in Joel Sawin's land, thence to a Chestnut mark- 
ed, thence to a Black Oak marked, thence to a Black Oak 
marked, thence to a Black Oak marked, in Judge Ruggles' 
land, thence to a Chestnut, thence to a Black Birch, thence 
to a Chestnut, thence to a Chestnut, thence to a Chestnut, 



HISTORY OF PRINCETON. 13 

thence to a Black Birch, thence to a Chestnut, thence to a 
Chestnut, thence to a White Pine, thence to a White Oak, 
thence to a Black Oak, thence to a Chestnut, thence to a dry 
White Pine, thence to a Chestnut, thence to a White Pine, 
thence to a Chestnut, thence to a corner of Mr. Billings' barn ; 
said road is two rods wide and upon the northerly side of said 
marked trees." 

After the grant of the land tax, in 1761, repeated requests 
were made to the district, by a portion of the inhabitants, to 
allow them to pay it in the same manner the highway taxes 
are now paid, by work on the new roads most needed. This 
was refused for one or two years. It was, however, finally 
granted, and the price fixed for the labor of man and beast. 
Most of the roads of an early date were probably made in 



thi 



s way. 



CHAPTER II. 



Character of the first settlers. Of the New-England people generally. Province 
Lands. Petition for Incorporation as a Town. Act of Incorporation. Opposi- 
tion of Town to any addition of Territory. First Representative to the General 
Court. Early Town Meetings. 

Having narrated the history of the first settlement of the 
town, propriety might require something to be said of the 
character of the first settlers, did not their actions speak 
louder on this head than any eulogistic words of ours can. 
That they were not the most refined and best educated class 
of society must be acknowledged. Such are not the men for 
the settlement of new lands, however much they may do for 
their advancement in subsequent times. It is not, to use the 
expressive but coarse language of the late Col. Crockett, 
" your white-fingered, black-gloved, shilly-shally, spectacle 
fellows," before whom the forest will fall, and the springing 
grass and waving grain assume its place. For this, again to 
quote the western orator, we want men, "^ who will go back 
into the woods, and cut down a tree there, and another there, 
and another there, and shoot a bear there, and a panther 



14 HISTORY OF PRINCETON. 

there, and three Ingins there, and build a log-house there, and 
a shanty there, and a bigger house there, and a court-house 
there," and at last find a whole state settled, almost before a 
communication is opened with its neighbors. Such are the 
men whom success requires should be the pioneers of our 
settlements, while their safety and prosperity demand that the 
more refined and educated should succeed. Such were the 
men who settled here. Possessed of the advantages of a 
common school education, they sought early, as we shall 
presently see, to transmit them to their descendants. They 
stamped indelibly their peculiarities and their nobler qualities 
upon their sons. Their character was, therefore, substantially 
that of the present New-England farmers — less dignified and 
beautiful in some respects, inasmuch as it was formed on a 
narrower basis and with less facilities for its improvement. 
When, therefore, we speak of the present New-England 
character, we speak of it as it is, as it has been, as it will 
continue to be. We are far from arrogating to the present 
agricultural population of New-England, the right to be 
called, in the broad sense of the term, an educated people. 
They are fast and surely asserting and maintaining this right. 
But if more learning exists elsewhere, more generous hearts 
beat nowhere. Nowhere are nobler feelings felt, and more 
generally developed. Nowhere does devotion burn in a 
purer and brighter flame. Nowhere is patriotism more a 
living principle, and to no place is there more probability, as 
it fast fades elsewhere, that it will retreat, as to the sanctum 
of its last refuge. No more fervent or purer prayer ascends 
to heaven, than from off the domestic altar planted at the 
farm-house fireside. Never is the holy volume of inspiration 
turned with more reverend caution, than by the toil-hardened 
hand of the cultivator of the soil. Nowhere is the voice of 
the herald of temperance and reform echoed back with a 
more hearty and full response, than from the yeomanry of the 
land. Nowhere are the benevolent operations of the day 
taken up with more enthusiastic zeal, or patronized with more 
liberal contributions. The herald of the cross never appeals 
in vain. In the days of the Revolution, " the voices of 
Adams and of Otis, in Faneuil Hall, found their full and true 
response in the little assemblies of the towns," is the language 
of a distinguished statesman. It would have been as correct 
to have said, Adams and Otis were but living and bright em- 



HISTORY OF PRINCETON. 15 

bodiments of the spirit which had gone forth from the towns. 
If the money of the merchant was lavished in his country's 
cause, the full flowing garners of the farmer were thrown 
wide open to a famished army, while the hope and pride of 
the domestic circle were shoulder to shoulder on the battle- 
6elds of the war. The scanty clothing of the soldier was 
too legibly marked with the impress of New-England's farm- 
house daughters, to leave any question of its origin. The 
interests of education, too, are not neglected. In the day of 
small things, beside the humble church rose the unpretendino- 
school-house. Who are they that people our colleges and 
academies ? Who are they that stand highest and firmest in 
our senates and legislatures ? Who are they that are heard 
most eloquent in our pulpits and our courts, and who sit 
easiest and most respected on our judicial benches ? Who 
are the heralds of the cross, that with apostolic zeal are seen 
traversing every quarter of the globe, and pouring the light 
of revelation into the darkest corners of creation, so that 
where the New-England name is known, New-England men 
are found ? Who but the sons of our farmers, that in their 
early days have followed the plough, and grasped the axe and 
flail ? We are told we are destitute of enthusiasm. Thank 
God the remark is in some sense true, and long may it be 
ere we shall have to substitute the effects of transient enthu- 
siasm for the results of moral principle. Long may it be 
before New-England men will cease to dignify every action 
with the nature of a moral duty. We are told, too, that we 
are a parsimonious people. The nature of our land compels 
us to be frugal ; yet the gains, that are extorted from an iron- 
bound soil, are as freely given as they are hardly earned. 
But we are not a chivalric people. If to follow the horse on 
the race-ground rather than at the plough ; if to handle the 
knife, the dirk, or the pistol with more familiarity than the 
hoe, the shovel, or the axe ; if to develope our bravery in the 
scenes of private broils, rather than in the contests of our 
country ; if to labor ourselves, rather than to extort it with 
chains and stripes from the bleeding negro ; if any or all of 
these things mark chivalry, may we always be as destitute of 
it, as we are abhorent of its insignia. Of enthusiasm, chiv- 
alry, and the kindred qualities, properly understood and de- 
veloped, we claim a becoming share, while we are far from 
arrogating that praise, which our traducers would bestow upon 



16 HISTORY OK PRINCETON. 

our heads at the expense of our hearts. The history of New- 
England's enthusiasm and chivahy is only to be read in the 
ponderous volume, that shall record her whole action, from the 
landing of the ])ilgrims, to the extinction of the Yankee race. 
This is to be the record for the world's judgement, and not the 
straggling newspaper accounts of a few wandering pedlars, 
whose exploits, if credited, show them only to be ingenious 
and crafty, as their purchasers are foolish, ignorant, and 
gullible. 

1 have spoken inadvertently of the New-England character 
generally, but in doing so I have spoken of that of the people 
of Princeton, who claim no exception to the general charac- 
teristics of their neighbors. But I leave panegyric for history, 
as being more my appropriate business, while it is probably 
the more eloquent praise. 

After the incorporation, the district continued to increase 
with moderate rapidity in population. In 1759 the number 
of legal voters was not more than thirty, while in 1771 it was 
not far from one hundred. In addition to the two tracts of 
land of which we have spoken, there were, in and about it, 
province lands to the amount of some thousands of acres. 
These, exclusive of the iew hundred acres within the district, 
chiefly lands on the Wachusett mountain, which were subse- 
quently granted to Mr. Fuller the first minister of the place,* 
had never been incorporated with any district. In 1765, the 
district voted " to send a petitionf to the Great and General 
Court for the province land in this district," and chose Samuel 
Woods, Joseph Eveleth, and Boaz Moore a committee ac- 
cordingly. Of the adjoining province lands, one thousand 
acres, known as the '' Potash farm," were granted to one 
Plustid, in case he should teach the people the manufacture 



* The petition and resolve, upon which this lanH wns granted to Mr. Ful- 
ler, has been kindly furnished ine by his son. Elisha Fuller, Esq. of Lowell, 
and is appended. 

t No copy of this or the petition for incorporation in 1750, as well as a 
petition of the town in 1772, exist. The files of petitions, (and bills except 
those on parchment.) at the office of the Secretary of the Commonwealth 
are missinir from the year 17.19 to 1775. They were probably carried away 
by Hutchinson or Gage. These petitions are barely noticed on the town 
records as sent, and on the journal of the General Court as presented. 
They would unquestionably, ii accessible, throw much light on the original 
divisions and ownership of the territory. The act making the grant to 
Watertown is among the missing papers. 



HISTORY OF PRINCETON. 17 

of potash. Buildings were erected and the manufacture 
commenced. For some reason, however, Plastid failed to 
obtain the land, and it was subsequently granted to Gen. 
Ruggles, for some military service in the French war. The 
remainder of the province land was probably settled by ad- 
venturers, or taken up by speculators. How much of this 
land was embraced within the original limits of the District it 
is difficult to ascertain, without running the lines of the act of 
incorporation, a task of no little difficulty. From an exami- 
nation of the territory, it would seem to be, as before stated, 
but a few hundred acres, while from the petition in 1771, 
which is recorded below, it would appear to have been some 
thousands. It is probable the petitioners use the word " place," 
in the beginning of their petition, as signifying much more 
than the limits of the district. All the lands which now 
belong to the town, north of the line of the Watertown farms, 
were probably unincorporated until 1771. During this year 
the following petition was sent to the General Court by the 
district : — 

" Province of Massachusetts Bay. To His Excellency 
Thomas Hutchinson, Esq., Governor and Commander-in- 
Chief in and over said Province. The Honorable His Maj- 
esty's Council and House of Representatives in General 
Court assembled at Cambridge. 

The Petition of Princetown, in the County of Worcester, 
humbly shews. That said place composed of Province Land 
and other Lands, and Farms which never before belonged to 
any Town or District to the Amount of near eight thousand 
acres, together with a part of the original grant of twelve 
miles square to the Proprietors of Rutland, which part was 
never incorporated into the Town of Rutland, or any other 
Town, as many of this Honorable Court are well knowing, 
was in the year 1760 [1759] erected into a District by the 
name of Princetown, and was not annexed to any Town to 
join with them in the choice of Representative, and never 
can join with any, without being subject to greater difficulties, 
than any District lately made by reason of the distance, and 
badness of the Roads. 

Your Petitioners therefore humbly pray (seeing said Dis- 
trict was composed of lands, which never before belonged to 
any town or District) you would out of your wonted goodness 
3 



18 HISTORY OF PRINCETON. 

erect said place into a Town, with all the powers and privi- 
leges which arc enjoyed by other Towns in this Province. 
And as in duty bound will ever pray. 

BoAZ Moore, 

Caleb Mirick, 

Joseph Sargent, 

Ebenezer Jones, 



> Committee." 



This petition led to the following act, essentially varying 
the original boundaries of the district : — 

" Anno Regni Regis Georgii 

Tertii ' ' Undecimo. 

An act to erect the District of Prince Town into a Town 
by the name of Princeton. 

Whereas the Inhabitants of the District of Prince Town 
have Petitioned this Court to be Incorporated into a Town, 
that they may enjoy the privileges of other Towns in this 
Province, 

Be it therefore enacted by the Governor, Council, and 
House of Representatives, That the District of Prince Town 
in the County of Worcester, tvith all the lands adjoining to 
said District not included in any other Town or District, be 
and hereby is incorporated into a Town by the name of 
Princeton, and that the Inhabitants thereof be, and hereby 
are invested with all the powers, privileges and immunities 
which the Inhabitants of the several Towns within this Prov- 
ince do enjoy. 

April 17, 1771. This Bill having been read three several 
times in the House of Representatives, Passed to be enacted. 

Thomas Cushing, Speaker. 

April 19, 1771. This Bill having been read three several 
times in Council, Passed to be enacted. 

Thomas Flucker, Sec'y- 
April 24, 1771. By the Governor. 
I consent to the enacting of this Bill. 

T. Hutchinson." 

From this act it will be seen that a considerable acquisition 
of territory was made in 1771. The territory of the town, 
as at present composed, consists then of Rutland East Wing, 
11,626 acres ; of the Watertown Grant, about 3000 acres ; 



HISTORY OF PRINCETON. 19 

of Province Lands, incorporated in 1759, probably 1860 acres ; 
and of Lands annexed, in 1771, about 3000 acres. In addi- 
tion to these, about 500 acres were set off from Hubbardston, 
on petition of the owners, in 1810. Why the present unin- 
corporated tract, on the north of the town, known as " No- 
town," is not comprehended within the limits of the act of 
incorporation, inasmuch as it embraces " all the lands adjoin- 
ing said District," not previously incorporated with any town, 
or district, I am at a loss to ascertain. The inhabitants of 
Princeton seem to have been extremely reluctant that any 
extension of the original district lines should be made. In 
October, 1771, the following vote was passed : — " That it is 
the opinion of the town, that it is a hardship both to the 
towns and the farms lately laid to it, that they should be an- 
nexed, inasmuch as they are in no way accommodated to it, 
and that it is impracticable they should receive privileges that 
they be not rated." In the May following, it was voted to 
petition the General Court " to take off the farms lately 
annexed," and a committee, consisting of Joseph Eveleth, 
Willliam Thompson, and Joseph Sargeant, were chosen for 
this purpose. This petition, which would unquestionably 
throw some light on the original divisions of the territory, as 
before stated in a note, was lost among the other files from 
the Secretary's office. The farms alluded to*are, no doubt, 
those which now constitute the northern border of the town. 
Possibly " Notown" might have been annexed, and " taken 
off" on the prayer of this petition. The great objection to 
receiving " the farms" was that roads, and particularly the old 
north county road, which was then being located through 
them, were to be built at the expense of the town. 

Although the town was invested with the right of a repre- 
sentation in 1771, as this must be done at their own expense, 
they seem to have been in no hurry, even when important 
matters were in agitation, to exercise their newly acquired 
prerogative. In 111-2, 1773, and 1775, it was voted not to 
send a representative, on account of the " great expense of 
making roads ;" and, in 1774, on account of a similar expense 
in building school-houses. The first representative of the 
town was Moses Gill, who was chosen, in 1775, to represent 
it in the Provincial Congress, held at Watertown, during 
that year. It was the custom of the town, in its early exist- 
ence, to give written instructions to its representatives. None 



20 HISTORY OF PRINCETON. 

were given, however, in this case. In all matters, indeed, our 
towns at this period were much more thoroughly democratic 
than now. Every thing, great or small, must be laid before 
the assembled town. No power seems to have resided with 
the selectmen, or other financial officers, unless specially 
delegated. They were not allowed, as now, to audit accounts, 
but these, in all the detail of items, must be brought before a 
town meeting and voted, before their payment by the treas- 
urer could be authorized. This, of course, in the growth of 
the town, led to details of business extremely annoying and 
little attended to, and the custom finally ceased, the selectmen 
being allowed to examine and adjust all ordinary accounts, the 
treasurer paying them to their order. The early town meet- 
ings were called by a personal notice to each inhabitant. 
To accomplish this purpose, the District was divided into 
^'ranges," usually two, sometimes four, and a constable ap- 
pointed to warn the inhabitants of each range. In the town 
meetings, the affairs of church and state were closely inter- 
mingled — the parish, as in most cases at this time, consisting 
of the whole town. Spiritual and ministerial affairs were, 
however, at this time, pretty generally controlled by the 
preachers. The church then, as now, in many instances, 
claiming the right of the first action in such matters, while 
the minister, until the explosion of the principle at Bolton, 
asserted the right of negativing any vote, passed by the 
church, which he disliked. As, however, religious divisions 
grew up in our towns, parish and town affairs began gradu- 
ally to be separated, until a final dissolution was brought 
about l)y the recent amendment of our State Constitution. 



CHAPTER III. 



Educalion. First Schools. Division of the town into Scliool Districts. Erection 
of School-liouses. Re-division of the town. Present Appropriations for Educa- 
tion. Eii!|iish and Classical School. Scrnrnj. Wachusett. Little Wachusett. 
Pine Hill. Waters. Products. Statistics. 

The cause of education has never been essentially neglect- 
ed by the yeomanry of New-England. They have not, per- 
haps, been adequately alive to all its important interests, yet 



HISTORY OF PRINCETON. 21 

the time has never existed, when the extorted earnings ol the 
physical man have not been freely and profusely bestowed 
upon the cultivation of the moral and intellectual. During 
the trying and oppressive times of the revolution, our fsithers 
kept constantly in view the truth, that men were no less to he 
formed, than soldiers procured ; that the district school-house, 
with its wide-open doors, was as necessary to rear sons to re- 
ceive and preserve, as it had been fathers to achieve a glorious 
independence. Consequently, while our towns were compell- 
ed to make large and oi)pressive loans for the support of the 
army, the appropriations for education were rarely, if ever, di- 
minished. This was the last item of expense to be cut off, 
and every effort of private retrenchment and economy to sup- 
ply increasing public obligation, was to be made, before this 
would be yielded. The first effort for the establishment of 
American Independence as certainly dates at the commence- 
ment of our district schools, as the first movement for its over- 
throw will in their abridgement or destruction. Educate the 
sovereign, be he prince or people, if you would have an en- 
lightened government, is a truth not written down among the 
maxims of politics, because it is too legibly inscribed in the 
dictates of common sense to need a place there. Amid all 
party dissensions, the surest means of triumph, for an honest 
party, is to educate the people. Educate the people, and I 
care not, so far as political consequences are concerned, if you 
let loose among them tlie \\ hole race of demagogues, from the 
arch fiend that stirred rebellion ere earth came from chaos, 
down to the veriest party knave that rants on the " insulted 
people's violated rights" in a district caucus. I underrate not 
the means of external defence, but I read more security in the 
thick clustering colleges, academies, and schools, that are 
s])ringing up in our land, than [ could in the rearing on every 
furlong of our coast and borders, fortresses and batteries, strong 
enough to bid defiance to a world, and peopled with men each 
as brave as " Thermopylae's glorious dead." I read more safety 
in the humble scholar, with a backload of books, traversing 
the new settlements of our western wilderness, tlian in our na- 
vies riding the ocean, or our ai'mies coursing the land. These 
indeed protect us from external foes, while they not unfre- 
quently create more deadly ones within. The other annihi- 
lates both. There is nothing more cheering to the patriot's 
heart ; there is nothing that writes more legibly permanency 



22 HISTORY OF PRINCETON. 

on our institutions, than the awakening interest in common 
school education. 

Ahhough our fathers possessed nottlie faciUties for education, 
which we enjoy, considering their means, they had less occa- 
sion to blush for their efforts, or their attainments. Amid the 
rude dwellings of a new settlement the humble school-house 
was second only to the equally unpretending church. But 
the erection of a school-house by no means was the date of 
the first efforts of the settlers to educate their children. At 
least it was not so in Princeton. For years before this, prob- 
ably before the settlement of half a dozen families,* a small 
room in some one of the block-houses was dedicated to the 
cause of learning. Previous even to this, the child had in 
most cases received the first rudiments of an education from 
the best of all sources, maternal instruction. For some years 
the only schools kept in town were those at private houses, 
supported mostly by private contributions. The first public 
school was kept by Mr. Samuel Woods, in a house on the 
farm at present owned by Capt. Nahum Wilder. The pre- 
cise year of this school it is impossible to ascertain. It was 
probably about the time of the District's incorporation. The 
first appropriation of the District for schooling, on record, was 
in 1764, when six pounds, about $'27, was voted for this pur- 
pose. In 1766 this sum was increased to 100/. old tenor, 
equivalent to 13/. 6s. 8d, which was still further increased in 
the following year. The town had not as yet been divided 
into districts. The practice was for the selectmen to address 
a kind of warrant to the people of a neighborhood, directing 
them to procure a schoolmaster, and allowing each neighbor- 
hood the sum which they paid. Of course the poorer neigh- 
borhoods were sufferers. The following is a copy of one of 
these warrants, or directions, addressed to Robert Cowden 
and sixteen others, and dated January 4, 1768. 

" You are hereby ordered to procure a Schoolmaster to ye 
approbation of ye selectmen, and Improve in ye use of School- 
ing what you are assessed in ye School Rates, and when you 
have so done you may have orders to draw ye same out of ye 
District Treasury. 

Sum total of your School Rates £3,5,2,1." 

* Any one need but run liis eye over tlie old record of births in the town 
clerk's oilice, to be convinced tliat half a dozen families constituted a very 
respectable school district. 



HISTORY OF PRINCETON. 23 

In December, 1769, tlie town was first divided into school 
districts, or squadrons, as they were then usually termed. 
These were six, the positions of which are indicated by the 
names. The town then numbered one hundred and nineteen 
families. Of these thirty-six were embraced in the middle 
District, composed of what now constitutes Districts Nos. 1 
and 9. The '' Southerly Division" contained twenty families, 
and was composed of present Districts Nos. 5 and 6. The 
" Easterly Division," consisted of the present District No. 4, 
and numbered ten families. The " Westerly Division," com- 
posed of district No. 7, and a small portion of No. 8, contain- 
ed eighteen families. The " Northwesterly," consisting of the 
remainder of No. 8, and one or two families from No. 1, con- 
tained fourteen families. The " Northeasterly," and only re- 
maining division, embraced district No. 2, and what of No. 3 
then belonged to the District of Prince Town, and contained 
twenty-one families. The greater part of the present school 
District No. 3, did not belong to the District until its erection 
into a town, in 1771. This division of school districts shows 
at once the population of the different parts of the District, in 
1769, and has been of material assistance in settling its origin- 
al limits as incorporated in 1759. By the aid also of this list 
of names, which is found in the first volume of the town re- 
cords, with a little labor any one curious in such matters might 
probably ascertain the original proprietor of every farm in 
town, and trace its conveyances down to its present owner. 
It is doubtful, however, whether the value of the information 
would be at all proportionate to the labor of its acquisition. 

Although the town was divided into districts, in 1769, no 
school-houses were erected until some time subsequent. In 
January, 1771, "each squadron" had liberty from the town 
" to build their own houses," but none of them seem to have 
availed themselves of this great privilege. And in March 
following it was voted, that " a School House be Built in Each 
Squadron of ye Town at ye Town Cost, and that a School 
House be Built in ye Middle Squadron twenty feet square, 
and that one Hundred Dollars be allowed for ye Building ye 
same, said Money to be Raised in ye Middle Squadron, and 
ye other Squadrons to be assessed by ye same Proportion for 
ye Building ye other School Houses, and if any money is left 
it shall be converted to ye use of Schooling in ye Squadrons." 
A committee of three in each Squadron was also chosen at 



24 HISTORY OF PRINCETON. 

this meeting to carry the above vote into execution. In 1772 
this vote was so far reconsidered, that it was voted, " to rate 
each squadron separately," and an apphcation was made to the 
" Quarter Sessions" to confirm this vote. In 1773 the town 
again became dissatisfied with this hist vote, and voted a sec- 
ond reconsideration, and to build the houses as first stated. 
The one in the middle squadron was accordingly built a short 
time after, at an expense of 26/. 135. 4d. This house stood 
a short distance north of the present congregational meeting- 
house, and was burnt in 1789. The other five school-houses 
were completed in the following year. These houses stood, 
with the exception of that of the centre district, until 1797, 
when new ones were erected, which remained until 1836, 
when the town atrain commenced rebuilding them. Soon 
after the destruction of the centre school-house, the present 
town house was erected, (entirely, I believe, by private mu- 
nificence,*) in which the centre school was kept until the 
division of the district, and the erection of school-houses Nos. 
1 and 9, in 1811. 

In 1792 a new division of the town into school districts 
was made, not essentially varying, with the exception of No. 
9, from the present divisions. In 1789 the appropriation for 
schooling was 50/. which was divided as follows : — To the 
"Middle Squadron," £21,15,3,1 ; to the "Northeasterly," 
£10,10,5,1; ''Easterly," £4,15,3; " Westerly," £6,2,6,2; 
"Northwesterly," £8,9,8; the "Southerly," £8,6,11,2. 
The annual appropriation for the same object now is r^810, 
which is divided equally among the nine districts. In addi- 
tion to this, ,^44 70 is received from the school fund of the 
State, making in all ^854 70 raised for purposes of public 
education. Of this, three-fourths is expended in a man's 
school, which usually commences about the first of December 
of each year, and continues ten weeks. The remaining fourth 
is expended in a woman's school, which keeps about an equal 
time during the summer months. The studies pursued in 
these schools are those of a conmion elementary education, 
viz. reading, writing, geography, arithmetic, grammar, and 
occasionally, if desired, the higher brandies, as natural phi- 
losophy, chemistry, algebra, &c. The selection of the text 

" The school-house in No. was also built by the disti-icf, and surren- 
dered to the town on the occasion of their making an appropriation for its 
repair. The districts were not numbered until 1799. 



HISTORY OK PRINCETON. 25 

books is Iclt entirely to the examining committee, who, to- 
gether with a prudential committee, have the whole manage- 
ment of the money expended. The number of children 
attending the public schools this year, (1837,) was 378, con- 
sisting of about an equal number of each sex. In addition 
to the sum raised for schooling by the town, a much larger 
amount is paid by individuals for the education of their chil- 
dren. 

In the fall of 18-28, by the nnmificence of John Brooks, 
Esq. the English and Classical school in this place was open- 
ed. In addition to fitting up a building for the accommodation 
of the school entirely at his own expense, and purchasing a 
costly philosophical apparatus for its use, Mr. Brooks obligated 
himself to pay the instructor three hundred dollars, annually, 
for three years, exclusive of the profits arising from the tuition. 
The people of the town, however, owing to their religious 
contentions, never seconded the liberal efforts of the founder. 
Each denomination of Christians seemed indisposed to patron- 
ise, in the least, a school, which was not under the control of 
an instructor, sectarian enough to inculcate exclusively their 
own peculiar religious views. A large number of scholars 
were consequently sent from the town to the neighboring acad- 
emies, a circumstance as illiberal and injudicious, in a portion 
of the people, as it was discrediting to a school, which is now 
universally conceded, during the first three years of its exist- 
ence, to have know n no superior in the vicinity. Such a pro- 
cedure in the inhabitants was of course deadly disheartening 
to the friends of the school. Yet, notwithstanding these un- 
toward circumstances, it was tolerably well supported while 
under the management of IMr. Goddard, w ho possessed, in an 
eminent degree, all the requisites of a successful teacher. In 
1831, Mr. Goddard left it for other employments. From this 
time until 1835, it continued under a succession of teachers, 
supported by the liberal contributions of Mr. Brooks and the 
other proprietors, into whose hands it had now passed, to 
maintain a sickly existence. It is now kept usually about six 
months ; three in the spring, and three in the autunm, of each 
year. Probably about ^300 is now annually paid to this 
school. In addition to this, private schools are ke})t by fe- 
males in the district school-houses during most of the summer 
months, in which they are unoccupied by the town. There 
is, besides these means of improvement, a valuable social 
4 



26 HISTOUY OF PRINCETON. 

library in lowii, of sonio six liimdrcd volumes. Aho(];ether, 
tile people of Princeton are by no means behind their neigh- 
bors in the matter of education. 

iSccneri/. Miss Martineau, in a recent work, speaks of 
"the advantage that it is to the work-people to have their 
dwellings and their occupations fixed in spots where the hills 
are heaped together, and waters whirl and leap among the 
rocks." This advantage is enjoyed in an especial degree by 
the inhabitants of Princeton. Theirs is a town of hills. The 
scenery is ])icturcsque and beautiful, lis natural features are 
far from striking to a stranger ; and the extent, rather than 
beauty, of the prospect, would attract his notice. Yet the 
highly-wrought cultivation, which the farmer has bestowed 
upon a soil, in itself uninteresting, has made the scene one of 
uninterrupted beauty. Mountain, forest, field, and meadow, 
succeed each other in the picture, in new and pleasing varie- 
ties. The hand of the utiltarian is indeed the only one, which 
has, as yet, encroached essentially upon the domain of nature. 
No smilling gardens, rejoicing in their thousand varieties of 
fruit and flowers, here meet the enraptured eye. JNo white 
cottages, half hidden amid the surrounding shrubbery ; no 
princely seats, boasting almost a European splendor, add rich- 
ness to the scene. The waving grain, the golden corn, " the 
cattle on a thousand hills," the farm-house, arrogating only a 
puritan neatness and sim})licity, are all the ornaments which 
cultivation has added to the original beauties of nature. It is 
the absence of the highly-wrought things of art, which gives 
the scenery its rural beauty, of which the visiter, deep em- 
bosomed within the hills, may find every variety. While, 
through all, reigns that quiet and beautiful serenity most pe- 
culiarly characteristic of a New-England country town. The 
laborer's whistle, the ploughman's jargon, the streamlet's mur- 
mur, the sound of waving forest-boughs, and the merry song 
of birds, alone disturb the solitude, and, with a pleasant in- 
trusion, break the dreamer's meditation. 

-" The city's stifling heat, 



Its horrid sounds, and its polluted air," 

have no existence here. The genial gales of health, the 
balmy breeze of the mountain, the buoyant air of the hills, 
fresh from the forest's borders, the streamlet's margin, "the 
maize leaf and the maple bough," breathe a salubrity 

■'As if from heaven's wide open gates did (low. 
Health and refreslnuent on the world ticlow.'" 



HISTORY OF PRINCETON. 27 

The most prominent feature in the natural scenery oi" 
Princeton is the Wachusett. This mountain is situated in the 
northwesterly part of the town, and is the hi(:;hest peak of 
the range of hills, which nearly environ it. The (general ele- 
vation of the circumjacent country is 1100 feet. The moun- 
tain rears its conical head 1900 feet higher, making its total 
elevation above Massachusetts Bay, 3000 feet. The base is 
covered with a heavy growth of wood, which, dwindling to 
mere shrubbery as you approach the top, gives the mountain, 
when seen from a distance, an exceedingly beautiful appear- 
ance. The hand of art could hardly have shorn its sides to 
more exactness, than nature has displayed, in proportioning 
the growth of wood to the ascent. The sunnnit is little more 
than naked rock. Immense quantities of the blueberry bush 
contrive, however, to find support in the meagre soil, and, in 
the proper season, amply repay the trouble of a visit, in a 
treat of delicious fruit. A small octagonal tower, of about 
thirty feet in height, was erected on the summit in 1828. 
This has, however, become so shattered by the winds and the 
developments of its frequenters' organs of destructiveness, that 
it is now nearly useless, and the aspirants for immortality, who 
carved their names upon its sides, may now sigh over their 
futile labors, and learn the lesson of earth's transitoririess. 

The prospect from this mountain, of a clear summer morn- 
ing, is delightful in the extreme. To the observer from its 
top, the whole state lies spread out like a map. The 
neighboring hills, sinking into comparative insignificance, pre- 
sent an even outline to the beholder. On the one hand, is 
visible the harbor, distant, in the nearest point, forty-eight 
miles. On the other, the Monadnock is seen rearing its bald 
and broken sunnnit to the clouds, while the distant Hoosick 
and Green mou]itains fade away in the distance, and mingle 
with the blue horizon. The numerous and beautiful villages, 
scattered intermediately in all directions, give a charm to the 
scene, hardly surpassed by that of the far famed Holyoke. 
Somewhat of the artificial richness of the scenery of the lat- 
ter mountain is perhaps wanting here. Yet the lesser beauty 
is amply compensated by the greater extent of view. At the 
foot of the mountain, on the easterly side, is a small sheet of 
water, which, seen from the summit, as it reflects the rays of 
the morning sun, presents a scene for richness and beauty, on 
a limited scale, rarely surpassed. 



28 HISTORY OF I'RINCirrON. 

This mountain is somcwhal celebrated, in early Indian his- 
tory, as a place of frequent resort for the natives of the vicin- 
ity. Mrs. Rowlandson, wife of the former minister of Lan- 
caster, the narrative of whose captivity and sufferings is faniilar 
to every reader of Indian history, was here released. The 
spot, on the east side of the mountain, where this scene occur- 
ed, is still pointed out by the inhabitants. The hostile Indians 
had, however, all disappeared before the settlement of the 
town ; and the only ones that now resort to it are stragglins; 
doctors, skilled to cure every ill of humanity with the roots 
and herbs it furnishes. 

In IS'i.^, at the inauguration of John Quincy Adams to 
the Presidency, an attempt was made by the inhabitants, at 
the suggestion of the late W. N. Boylston, Esq. to substitute 
the name of Mount Adams for that of the time-honored Wa- 
chusett. Accordingly, on the fourth of March, a grand cele- 
bration was had, and, amid the parade of soldiery, the firing 
of cannon, and the shouts of the people, the old mountain 
received its second christening. In the evening, an innnense 
bonfire of pine wood and tar blazed on the top, while the 
deep bellowings of the cannon, probably for the first and last 
time, reverberated around its summit, and awoke, in the still- 
ness of the night, the echoes of its forest sides. The evening 
was still and dark, and peculiarly ada})ted to such a display. 
The flames, streaming to the very clouds, and tinging them 
with deep and glowing crimson, reflected by the snow upon 
the groimd, presented an ap])earance at once sublime and 
beautiful. The merry notes of music floated melodiously on 
the evening air, disturbed at successive intervals by the thun- 
ders of the cannon from the summit, which, rumbling and 
rolling among the neighboring hills, at last died away in their 
bosom. But the old mountain, much as it respected its owner 
and the distinguished personage he would honor, understood 
not the sound. " The pother o'er its head" disturbed not the 
quiet serenity of its bosom, and it still responded only to the 
good old Indian name, which it early received at the baptis- 
mal font of its first wild possessors. Nor did the people ever 
cease to tJmik Wachusett, if they occasionally indulged them- 
selves with saying Moimt Adams. "■ Stage house" was soon 
run uj) on the sign-post of the village inn, to fill the place 
once occupied by " Mt. Adams Hotel." Mr. Adams himself 
soon after bid adieu to the '' White House," when the moun- 



HISTORY OF PRINCETON. 29 

lain paid its respccls to the public throu;j;h tlic columns of the 
" Massachusetts Spy," and became universally Wachusett 
Hill. 

The mountain is largely frequented during the summer 
months by visiters, and, at this season, adds much to the beau- 
ty, interest, and business, of the town. 

To notice all the principal hills in Princeton, would be to 
describe its whole tenitory by sections. Two are, however, 
deserving of mention. They are Pine Hill on the east, and 
Little Wachusett on the west, of the mountain. These are 
both considerable eminences, and, situated elsewhere, would 
doubtless be of no small attraction. Here they sink into 
comparative insignificance, being never visited, except for 
game or berries, in each of which they abound. The former 
of these, as its name indicates, is covered with a thick growth 
of pines. It rises rather abruptly to about half the height of 
Wachusett, and is 900 feet above the surrounding country, 
and 2000 above the ocean. Little Wachusett is of about 
an equal elevation, and is partially covered with wood, chiefly 
the walnut. The ascent of the latter hill is less difllcult than 
either of the others. 

Waters. Princeton being the height of land in the state, 
very little water flows into it except from the clouds. An 
early American writer says of the neighboring town of Ash- 
burnham," so much water doth not run into the town as would 
fill a man's boot." The same is scarcely less true of this 
town. Of course, as they rise entirely within its limits, there 
are no larire streams flowing from it. The waters of the 
smaller ones divide, about equal portions flowmg east to 
Massachusetts Bay, and west to the Connecticut. The chief 
streams are East, South, and West, Wachusett brooks. These 
all rise at the foot of the mountain. The first, uniting with 
other small streams, flows cast, and is the source of the 
Nashua. The second runs nearly south into Quinepoxet 
pond. The third flows southwest, and constitutes the east 
branch of Ware river, and empties into the Connecticut. 
Upon this last stream a small cotton factory is built, at the 
west part of the town, called Valley Village. Here, in addi- 
tion to the factory, are several mills, a store, and post-ofiice. 
Another cotton factory, of about an equal size, fonnerly ex- 
isted on East Wachusett brook, in the east part of the town. 
This was burnt in the winter of 1836. Exce))t these in- 



30 HISTORY OF PRINCETON. 

Stances, no farther use is made of the waters of these streams 
than to turn common grist and saw mills. 

Quinejjoxct is the only natural pond wholly within the 
town. This is a small sheet of water in the southerly part, 
which still retains its Indian name. It covers something like 
fifty acres. A small portion of Wachusett on the northern, 
and Wanchatopick, or Rutland pond, on the southeastern, 
border, lie within the town. All these ponds are famous, es- 
pecially the two former, in the annals of the sportsmen of the 
vicinity. 

Products. The population of Princeton is mainly occupied 
with agricultural employments. Few manufactures exist be- 
yond the wants of the town. The shoe business has been 
introduced within a few years to some extent, and now gives 
employment to several workmen. Immense quantities of 
palm-leaf hats are manufactured by the female part of the in- 
habitants. Aside from these, with the exception of those em- 
ployed in the above-mentioned iactory, and the few mechanics 
which the wants of the town support, the whole people are 
devoted to agricultural pursuits. As the land is best adapted 
to grazing, the chief products of the town are beef, butter, and 
cheese. Little grain is raised beyond that necessary for home 
consumption. Large quantities of wood, either in its original 
form, or that of charcoal, are carried to the neighboring towns, 
particularly Worcester. This has been found a profitable 
business, especially the sale of charcoal, and kilns of brick, of 
capacious dimensions, have been built for its manufacture in 
the vicinity of some of the largest wood-lots. In 1831 there 
were 40:21 acres of wood land in the town, and 7495 devot- 
ed to grazing ; in all, more than half the whole area of the 
town. Of the remainder, 531 acres were occupied as tillage 
land, the product of which, during the same year, was 339 
bushels of wheat, 1034 of rye, 3893 of oats, 5813 of Indian 
corn, and 367 of barley. There were also 1240 acres of En- 
glish and upland mowing, the annual product of which was 
1073 tons of hay. There were, moreover, 1115 acres of 
fresh meadow, yielding yearly 76i2 tons of hay. In addition 
to this, there were 2266 acres of unimproved, and 2434 of 
unimprovable, land, 265 acres used for roads, 200 covered 
with water, and fifteen occupied by the town and other pro- 
prietaries. ]Making, in all, a territory of 19,582 acres, val- 
ued at ^180,536 00. There were in the town, the same 



HISTORY OF PRINCETON. 31 

year, 192 dwelling-houses, and cattle of all descriptions to the 
numhcr of 2963. The })opulation the same year was 1345, 
and the whole valuation ^'348,293 00.* 



CHAPTER IV. 



Ecclesiastical Histm-y. Introductory remarks. First preachinrr in town. Organi- 
zation of the Cliurch, 17Ci. First Menting-liousc built, 17()2. Call to Mr. 
Goodrich, 176G. Call to Mr. Fuller, 17G7. His Reply and Settlement. First 
Deacons chosen. Present to the Church. Troubles with Mr. Fuller. Com- 
mittee's Letter. His Final Dismissal. Suit vs. Town. Verdict for Defendants. 

Aware that 1 am entering on a delicate part of my suh- 
ject, I feel a word of explanation to be necessary. Perhaps 
there never was a subject of more universal interest, or more 
generally the theme of conversation, than their ecclesiastical 
history, and especially their religious divisions are, at this 
moment, to the inhabitants of Princeton. Go where you will, 
upon the highway, to the church or town meeting, the domes- 
tic fireside, or the social circle, and " our religious troubles" 
are sure to meet you. No place is sacred from their intru- 
sion. Of course, in the phrenzy of this excitement, amid the 
meetings of boards spiritual, councils ecclesiastical, churches 
and parishes militant, informal assemblies innumerable, there 
are as many varying opinions and contradictory reports, I had 
almost said, as people. To record all these in sober history, 
the author must most assuredly write himself down what Dog- 
berry in the play aspires to be. From the chaotic mass pre- 
sented, I am left to the ungrateful task of selecting the few 
grains of truth. I cannot hope to give satisfaction to all, 
where each is at variance with his neighbor as to what pro- 
priety requires. My constant aim, in speaking of the past, 
as well as present difficulties, will be to give only facts, as 
they exist, substantiated by written documents, unaccom- 
panied by any, or at most few and unavoidable, strictures of 
my own. Of the many religious differences, which have and 
do exist in this place, I most certainly have my own views. 

* I am indebted for these statistics to the Report of the State Valuation 
Committee, for 1831. 



32 HISTORY OK PRINCETON. 

Yet 1 belong to neither of the parties, which now divide the 
inhabitants. In some of the rehgious views of either I do not 
sympathise, while I certainly am not identified with the in- 
terests of one more than another. If any one, therefore, shall 
feel himself aggrieved, by any statements of mine, I beg him to 
review the facts, and if being correctly given they still place 
him in an awkward position, the fault is his, and not mine. 
Without the expectation of escaping censure, I yet hope to 
treat the " vexed subject " with sufllcient impartiality to have 
little to apprehend from it. Abominating from the bottom of 
my heart all introductory a})ologies and explanations, with 
these few remarks, which 1 hope may save the luckless histo- 
rian from the catastrophe of bringing about his ears the whole 
posse of his rcligioushj litigious townsmen, I enter upon the 
subject. 

The early settlers of Princeton, like those of all our 
towns, were emphatically a religious people. Hardly had 
sufficient land been redeemed from the wilderness to settle 
half a dozen families, when we find them active in measures 
for the supply of their spiritual wants. Of course, they were 
as yet too poor to build a house of worship, or support regu- 
larly the stated ministrations of the gospel, and scattered over 
too wild and extensive a territory, to form themselves even 
into a church or society. Yet almost as soon as we hear of 
the first settlement, we find preaching was had at the rude 
dwellings of the settlers, the preacher going from one section 
of the town to another, to acconmiodate the different clusters 
of families which occupied them. The custom was, to have 
preaching eight sabbaths in the year, two in each section of 
the settled territory. The first sermon ever preached in" town, 
was probably at the house of Abijah IMoore, to an audience, 
which, materially increased at a later day, a small room and 
bed-room held quite comfortably. An old lady, slill living, 
at the age of eighty-four, recollects hearing a sermon at Mr. 
Moore's, preached by the Rev. Mr. Harrhigton of Lancaster, 
in October, 1759, on the occasion of the district's incorpoia- 
lion. " There were then," says the old lady, " but a handful 
of us, who found our way to church by marked trees." 

The inhabitants continued to eniploy preaching, in this 
manner, still without enjoying, in full, the ordinances of tlie 
gospel, until the I'^th of August, I7()l, twenty-five years 
alter the first settlement, when a church was gathered, con- 



HISTORY OF PRINCETON. 33 

sisting of eighteen male members, who entered into a cove- 
nant, of which the following copy is transcribed from the 
church records : — 

"A Covenant entered into Aug. \2th, 1764. We whose 
names are hereunto subscribed, apprehending ourselves called 
of God into a church state of the Gospel — Do first of all 
confess ourselves to be so highly favored of the Lord and ad- 
mire his free and rich grace which calls us hereunto: and 
then with humble reliance and dependence on the assistance 
of his grace and Holy spirit therein promised for them, that 
in a sense of their own Inability to do any good thing, do 
humbly wait upon him for all, we do thankfully lay hold on 
his covenant, and solemnly enter into covenant with God and 
with one another according to Godliness. — We declare our 
serious belief of the Christian Religion as contained in the sa- 
cred Scriptures, acknowledging them to contain the whole re- 
vealed will of God concerning our faith and practice, heartily 
resolving to conform our lives to the rules of that Religion so 
long as we live. — We give up ourselves to the Lord Jehovah, 
the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, the only true and living 
God, and avouch him this day to be our God and portion for- 
ever. — We give up ourselves to the blessed Jesus, who is the 
Lord Jehovah and adhere to him as the head of his people in 
the covenant of Grace, and rely upon him as our Prophet, 
Priest, and thing to bring us to eternal blessedness. — We ac- 
knowledge our everlasting and indispensable obligation to glo- 
rify God in all the duties of a sober and godly life, and par- 
ticularly in the duties of a church state and a body of people 
associated for an obedience to him in all the ordinances of the 
gospel, and whereupon depend upon his gracious assistance for 
our faithful discharge of the Duties thus incumbent upon us. 
We engage with dependence on his promised grace and spirit 
to walk together as a church of the Lord Jesus Christ in the 
faith and order of the gospel, so far as we shall have the same 
revealed unto us, conscientiously attending the worship of God 
in his house in praying to him singing to him and giving rev- 
erend attention to his word, read and preached according to 
his institution, the sacraments of the New Testament, the dis- 
cipline of his kingdom and all his holy institutions in commun- 
ion one with another and watchfully avoiding all sinful stum- 
bling Blocks and Contentions, as become God's people in cov- 
enant with him. — At the same time we do present our off- 
5 



34 HISTORY OF PRINCETON. 

spring with ourselves unto the Lord, purposing with Iiis help 
to do and keep in the methods of a religious education that 
they may be the Lord's — All this we do fleeing to the blood 
of the everlasting covenant for the pardon of our many Errors, 
and praying that the glorious Lord Jesus who is the great 
Shepherd would prepare and strengthen us for every good 
work to do his will, working in us that which is well pleasing 
in his sight, to whom be glory forever, Amen." 

This Covenant, which appears not to have been recorded 
until sometime subsequent to its formation, and then in the 
hand-writing of the Rev. JMr. Russell, was signed by the fol- 
lowing persons : — Tilly Littlejolms, Elisha Wilder, Ebenezer 
Jones, Abel Pray, Samuel Hastings, Samuel Bixby. Abner 
Howe, Samuel Moseman, James Haynes, James Norcross, 
Timothy IMoseman, Peter Goodnow, James Gibbs, Abijah 
3Ioore, Caleb ^Mirick. Timothy Keyes. Noah Norcross, and 
Stephen Brigham. From the date of this covenant there ex- 
ist no church records until oMay, 1767, when a committee was 
chosen to send letters missive to several of the neighboring 
churches, requesting their assistance at the ordination of the 
Rev. Mr. Fuller, in the September following. We learn^ 
however, from the to\\n records, which are nearly perfect from 
1761, that they continued, as before, to hire preaching, usu- 
ally four or five mouths in each year. Their meetings were 
still held at private houses. As early as 1761, probably ear- 
lier, for the records, for two years subsequent to the incorpo- 
ration of the district in 1759, are lost, the erection of a house 
of public worship was in agitation in the district meetings. 
In 1760, at the meeting in March, as I learn from other 
sources than the records, it was voted to petition the General 
Court to grant a land tax, to enable the district to build a 
house of worship, settle a minister, and lay out roads ; and 
Dr. Harvey w as chosen an agent to present this petition. In 
the warrant for a meeting, Feb. 9, 1761, I find the following 
article : — " To see if the district will vote to build a meeting- 
house for the public worship of God, and choose a connnittee 
for the same, or act any thing relative thereunto, as the dis- 
trict shall think proper." This article, say the records, " w as 
not voted," although it would seem from the warrant for IMarch 
meeting of the same year, that, previous to this time, the dis- 
trict had fixed the location of the house. In this warrant I 
find the follo\\ing article, somewhat curious in its orthography, 



HISTORY OF PRrNCETON. 35 

as well as phraseology : — " To sec if the Destrict will vote to 
build the meeting-house, to wit the house for the publick 
worshep of God in some other place then that which it is 
allready Voted to be built on and vote ancything Relating 
thereunto that the Destrict Shall think proper, or otherwise to 
vote where the said meeting-house shall be built." This ar- 
ticle is succeeded by the following: — "To see if the Destrict 
will vote to build a meeting-house as soon as can be conven- 
antly and choose a committee for the same and Report unto 
the Destrict upon what terms they can git it built and when, 
or act any thing as the Destrict shall think proper." From 
these two articles, it would seem, the inhabitants had settled 
the usually great bone of contention in country villages on 
such occasions, the where, although not the ivhen, the iiouse 
should be built. The second of these articles was passed 
over in the meeting. On the first, the following vote was 
had : — " Voted Col. John Whitcomb of Bolton, Dea, Samuel 
Pierce of Holden and Dea. Joscpli jMiller of Westminster be 
a committee to measure the said ])istrict of Princetown, and 
find the centre thereof, and afix or order the place for building 
the meeting-house on, to wit, the iiouse for the public worship 
of God, and if the centre be not suitable ground to build the 
said house on, then on the nearest place to the centre that is 
suitable according to the best Judgement of the Committee, and 
they are desired to make return thereof at the adjournment 
of this meeting, and it is also voted that Mr. Thos. Harmon 
of Rutland, and Dea. Jonathan Livermore of Westborough, 
be surveyors for the pm-poses above said and that all the said 
committee and surveyors be under oath for the trust committed 
to them as above said. Also voted that the vote for building 
the said meeting-house within two rofis of the most southerly 
corner of Mr. Caleb Myrick's Land be and hereby is revoked 
and Discontinued." This committee attended to " the trust 
committed to them," and made their report, which is not on 
record. The district, however, at a meeting in June of the 
same year, dissatisfied w ith the committee's '• best judgement," 
took the usual course in such cases, and, after paying the 
committee some half the cost of erecting the meeting-house, 
voted not to accept their report,»and to locate the house them- 
selves. Accordingly, on the 2-2d of July, 1761, the follow- 
ing vote was passed : — '• Voted that the meeting-house for the 



36 HISTOKY OF PRINCETON. 

public worship of God be built on the highest part of the 
land given by Mr. John &i Caleb IMirick to the District for 
their pubhc use, near three Pine trees marked on the north- 
erly side, being near a large flat rock." A location in some 
respects ambiguous, for it would be hardly possible to select 
any spot within the vicinity which would not be beside " a 
large flat rock." The site thus fixed upon, and on which 
the house was finally built, is the same as that on which the 
congregational church now stands. 

The location being thus finally settled in 1761, the first 
measures for the erection were taken in October of the same 
year, when it was " Voted to build a meeting-house for the 
public worship of God, and that said house shall be fifty foots 
long and forty foots wide." This house, the dimensions of 
which are here given, was raised on the 30th of June, 1762. 
It was of sufficient height to admit of galleries, and built in 
puritanical plainness and simplicity, without bell, spire, or 
ornament of any kind. The interior resembled somewhat in 
form that of the present house, the galleries occupying three 
sides, the pulpit the fourth. What the cost of this house was 
does not appear. The expense of the frame was 71/. 13s. Ad. 
which was paid to Abijah Moore, who also drew from the 
treasury 28/. as the cost of the raising. The glass was pre- 
sented to the town by the Hon. Moses Gill, in 1765. When 
the first preaching was had at this church it is impossible to 
ascertain. It was not entirely complete until after the settle- 
ment of Mr. Fuller, in 1767, although a town meeting was 
held in it May 30th, 1763. Subsequent to Mr. Fuller's or- 
dination, I find a vote of the town to finish " the second seat 
in the galleries." The outside remained unpainted, except 
so far as the brush of time laid on its coat of venerable and 
reverend black, until March, 1770, when it was voted "to 
paint the meeting-house provided Mr. Moses Gill finds the 
paitit.^' Whether Mr. Moses Gill's generosity again devel- 
oped itself, and the house changed colors for the better, I am 
unable to say. In October, of the same year, it was voted to 
plaister the walls, and one more advance made towards a con- 
summation, by this time, " devoutly to be wished." In No- 
vember following, it was voted that " Ye plaistering under ye 
Galleries be made crowning &l ye plaistering whitewashed 
and ye Seats in ye side Galleries be Finished." Our ances- 



HISTORY OF PRINCETON. 37 

tors finished their public, as their private buildings, " a room 
at a time."* 

The first attempt of the district towards the settlement of 
a minister, was in 1765. In the warrant for a meeting in 
December of that year, is the following article : — " To see if 
the District will vote how soon they will settle a minister, and 
also whether they will hear any one or more of the candidates 
for the ministry, which they have already heard, in order for 
settling, or any other or others which they have not heard, or 
act anything relating to that affair." On this article, it was 
voted " to hear Mr, Baker, Mr. Fuller and Mr. Moore, each 
of them six sabbaths on probation, in order for settling." 
Neither of these gentlemen, however, received any call to 
settle in the district at this time. From what reason I am 
unable to say. Probably neither were desirous of settlement, 
or, what is most probable, neither were sufficiently satisfactory 
in all points to the inhabitants. Be this as it may, the first 
invitation to become their minister, given to any individual, 
was the call to the Rev. Sewall Goodrich, in 1766. In Au- 
gust of this year, the district voted to concur with the church 
in their selection of Mr. Goodrich, and also voted him as a 
settlement, 133/. 65. 8J. one half payable in eight months, and 
the remainder in a year from the expiration of the time of the 
first-mentioned payment. They also voted him an annual 
salary of 53/. 6s. 8d. Mr. Goodrich, however, declining the 
invitation, an addition to the salary, of 13/. 6s. 8d. was voted 
in the September following, to be paid as follows : one half in 
five years from his ordination, thenceforth to be continued as 
part of his salary ; the remainder at the expiration of ten 
years with the like condition. Mr. Goodrich still declined 
the invitation, and nothing further was done towards the set- 
tlement of a pastor until the 30th of March, 1767, when the 
district voted, 22 to 4, to concur with the church in their call 
to the Rev. Timothy Fuller, to settle with them in the work 



* The manner of disposing of the pews in this house was somewhat 
novel. The individual paying the highest land tax was allowed the first 
choice, he paying therefor a certain sum, fixed by a conmiittee of the dis- 
trict. Dr. Harvey obtained the first choice, for wliich he paid 'M. Is. 4d. 
His valuation was 95Z. 8s. Oliver Davis obtained the second choice, paying 
therefor 3L 

The church stood about thirty years from the time of its completion, when 
it was taken down in order to make room for the one at present standing 
on the same spot. 



38 HISTORY OF PRINCETON. 

of the gospel ministry. The same pecuniary encouragement 
was voted Mr. Fuller, which had been previously offered Mr. 
Goodrich. To this Invitation Mr. Fuller returned the follow- 
ing answer : — 

" To the Church and Congregation of the District of Princeton. 
Brethren, Having sometime since received your notice in 
giving me an invitation to settle with you in the arduous and 
important work of the Gospel Ministry, I have taken it into 
due consideration, and having sought direction of God and tak- 
en suitable advice of the neighboring ministers I think it my 
duty to comply with your desires. Accordingly I now de- 
clare my acceptance of your invitation aforesaid, humbly de- 
pending upon and imploring divine grace and assistance that 
I may be both faithful and successful. I am far from desiring 
that my people should find the gospel burdensome, therefore, 
though your offers are not great, yet considering the infant 
state of your society, your great unanimity and kind disposi- 
tions, I look upon it as a call from God and am encouraged to 
accept in dependence on your generosity, as your ability in- 
creases to contribute of the means with which God in his pro- 
vidence shall bless you to my necessities, to my comfortable 
and honorable support. As lar as I know my own heart I 
undertake with a single aim at the glory of God in connexion 
with your best interest. I think I must be far removed from 
the least suspicion of having any lucrative views in the case, 
but assm-edly my highest views are to advance the kingdom of 
Christ which is not of this world. I would take this opportu- 
nity to express my gratitude for the good opinion you have 
manifested of me, hoping I shall always walk worthy of your 
esteem and friendship. I would earnestly request your pray- 
ers for me that I may so act the part assigned me in life as 
that I may be instrumental of turning many from sin to God, 
be approved of Christ the great iiead of the Church and 
judge of the world, and finally be admitted to the re\\ar(ls of 
the laithful steward. I at the same time assure you of my 
prayers for you that the God of love and peace may be among 
you, that you study the things that make for ])eace and those 
by which one may profit and edify another, and pursue the 
way which through Christ will make you happy in life and 
comfortable in death and glorious at the resurrection. These 
are my prayers, these are my wishes, and to promote these 



HISTORY OF PRINCETON. 39 

may I always be led to discern and embrace every proper 
method. Now the God of peace that brought again from the 
dead our Lord Jesus Christ, that great shepherd of tlie sheep, 
thro' the blood of the everlasting Covenant make you perfect 
in every good work to do his will working in you that which is 
well pleasing in his sight thro' Jesus Christ to whom be glory 
forever, Amen. Timothy Fuller. 

Princeton, May ye IQth, 1767." 

Mr. Fuller's ordination took })lace the 9th of September, 
1767. On this occasion letters missive, inviting their presence 
by their pastor and delegate, were sent to the First Church in 
Danvers, the second Church in Shrewsbury, the second in 
Lancaster, and the churches in Wilmington, Rutland, Holden, 
Weston, Westminster, and Middleton, all of which were 
present. 

Soon after ]Mr. Fuller's ordination the church met, and, on 
the 9th of November, 1767, adopted a covenant of admission 
not differing essentially from that subscribed by the original 
members at the organization. The first deacons of the 
church were also elected at this meeting. They were Tim- 
othy Keyes and Adonijah Howe, who were regularly intro- 
duced into office in the February following. It was also vot- 
ed, " that the sacrament be administered once in two months ; 
but may be omitted at particular times as the pastor may 
judge expedient." About the same time the Hon. Moses 
Gill presented to the church a flagon, tankard, cup and 
dish for the conmiunion table, together with a baptismal basin. 
These were for fom- years the only vessels owned by the 
church. In 177-2 three additional tankards, a dish and a 
cloth were procured. These, together with the present of Mr. 
Gill, constitute a part of the church furniture still in use by 
the congregational church. 

IMr. Fuller continued to discharge the pastoral duties to the 
general satisfaction of his people, until 1775, wlien a general 
uneasiness arose in consequence of his supposed unflivorable 
views of the revolutionary contest then opening. During 
their session, in 1774, the General Court had desired Gov. 
Gage to appoint a fast, in view of the then threatening state 
of affairs. He, however, declined, and they then recommend- 
ed a day for the purpose in imitation of their pious ancestors, 
" who, on all occasions of common danger and distress, de- 



40 HISTORY OF PRINCETON. 

voutly looked to God for direction and favor." This fast it 
seems Mr. Fuller from some cause refused to hold, and hence 
the disaffection of his parishioners, who at this early day were 
not behind the rest of their countrymen in an enthusiastic de- 
votion to the common cause. This produced the first uneasi- 
ness, and soon brouo;lit, as would appear from their proceed- 
ings, the people to a determination of ridding themselves at all 
events of their preacher. Other charges were of course 
brought against him, or, rather, things that might otherwise 
have passed unnoticed were construed into grievances. These 
are summarily stated in the following letter from a committee 
of the church : — 

" To the Rev. Timothy Fuller. 

Sir, We are dissatisfied with your conduct in the pastoral 
office in the following particulars — 1. Your not catechising 
and instructing the children more frequently. 2. Your neg- 
lect of pastoral visits and of conversation on spiritual things. 
3. An unchristian backwardness to instruct and enlighten your 
flock, which we fear proceeds from a disregard to their spirit- 
ual welfare. 4. Your neglecting lectures ivken first settled 
among us. 5. Your refusing to appoint a Fast when motion- 
ed by the General Court on account of the fearful apprehen- 
sion of losing liberties of country, through the arbitrary pro- 
ceedings of the British Parliament. 6. Your treatment of 
the Church, when seeking for satisfaction in the articles of 
charge. Tim'y Keyes. 

Stephen Brigham. 

Stephen Harrington. 

IcHABOD Fisher. 

Thos. Gleason. 
Princeton, March 26, 1776." 

Mr. Fuller replied to these charges by letter, " which stands 
on record," say the church records, " in the Old Church 
book." This book has unfortunately been lost in some of 
the religious commotions, and the answer of Mr, Fuller is not 
accessible to the writer. With this exception, we have no 
church records from February, 1776, to May, 1786, about the 
time of Mr. Craft's ordination. Sometime subsequent, how- 
ever, to the trial of the suit, at Salem, which he connnenced 
against the town for the recovery of his salary, Mr. Fuller 



HISTORY OF PUINCETON, 41 

published a vindication* of his conduct, in which is incorpo- 
rated, probably, the substance of his reply to the church. 
With respect to the charge of toryisni, he says, " What my 
people believed, I am unable to determine ; but I persuade 
myself they did not believe me opposed to the measures of 
my country, because there was nothing in my conduct or con- 
versation to justify such a faith, considered as a rational prin- 
ciple. iMy principles did not forbid my offering the petitions 
of the people for relief; but I readily joined with my people, 
on all days set apart by any court or Congress, for public de- 
votion, and led them in their addresses to heaven for aid and 
deliverance." In regard to the chariies of neo-lect of lectures, 
catechising, and pastoral visits, he says, " To these, I at that 
time answered, that I had rarely omitted a lecture previous to 
the communion, except for a period somewhat exceeding a 
year after my settlement, when lectures were not so statedly 
appointed as afterwards, by reason of necessary avocations. 
That 1 had made it a rule to catechise their children twice a 
year, from which I had seldom deviated. That I had visited 
them all generally once a year ; and never neglected to visit 
persons in sickness, upon their offering a note for public 
prayers, or upon particular application, and on such visits had 
endeavored to adapt my addresses to their circumstances." 
The charge of levity, in presiding at the church meetings, is 
explained by supposing " the moderator laid down his head 
on the seat before him, shivering with the cold, which the 
people might fondly construe into a shake of laughter." " It 
may he i in possible,''^ somewhat satirically continues the writer, 
" sometimes in such debates and altercations to suppress a re- 
luctant smile. And there may be such a concurrence of circum' 
stances, as to protect a man from censure, in such a case, on 
any occasion whatever, except an immediate address to the 
Deity.'''' The tyranny in church government, another subject 
of complaint, seems to have been charged upon INIr. Fuller, 
in two instances in particular ; in one of which, he refused to 
put a vote whereby the church would go into an immediate 
investigation of the charges, then for the first time brought 

*Thisi3a small pamphlet of twenty-three pa^es, entitled " Remarks ike." 
and purports to be written in reply to some strictures upon a pamphlet pub- 
lished by the Rev. Mr. 'I'hacher. It is without dale or signature, and but 
few copies probably exist. For the one in my possession 1 am indebted 
to the politeness of Charles Mirick, Esq. 

6 



42 HISTORY 01'' PRINCETON. 

against him. On his refusal the church were on the point of 
voting in a new moderator, when he dissolved the meeting. 
In the other instance, he overruled a motion to choose a com- 
mittee to collect articles of charge against him, remarking, 
that if any one had any thing against him, he had full liberty 
to ofter it, and in due time it should be laid before the church, 
but that he would not be active in choosing a committee to 
hunt up articles against him. In vindication of Mr. Fuller's 
conduct in this latter respect, I should remark that, up to this 
time, the ministers claimed the right of negativing any vote of 
the church which they disliked. Tliis right the clnu'ch in 
Bolton about this time disputed, and continued to dispute, 
until their views were sanctioned by an ecclesiastical council. 
This will serve to explain Mr. Fuller's objections to certain 
churches, when selecting a council, of wliich we shall pres- 
ently speak, on the ground of their adoption of the "• Bolton 
plan," since as one of the charges against him was the exer- 
cise of this disputed prerogative, these churches had already 
prejudged the case. 

Such were the charges against Mr. Fuller, and such his 
reply to them. Of these, the main and exciting one was dis- 
affection to the cause of his country. For this accusation, at 
this period of peculiar jealousy, there was undoubtedly some 
ground. Although his principles, honestly entertained, did 
not forbid his " offering the petitions of the people for relief," 
it is extremely questionable whether, such as they were pro- 
mulgated from his pulpit, they would excite them to seek it 
in any other way than quiet submission to the powers that 
were. This was sufficient cause for the total estrangement of 
the affections of his people. The other charges probably 
arose " in the rage of a complaining fever," and an uncom- 
promising determination, on the part of the town, to free 
themselves of an obnoxious minister. Although we have no 
sympathy for his political views, we cannot but regard some 
of the proceedings of the town, in respect to him, as ques- 
tionable, both in their expediency and justice. The Revolu- 
tionary enthusiasm, which pervaded at this time all classes, 
certainly excuses, although it may not justify them. 

Having endeavored, as precisely as possible, to state the 
grounds of dissatisfaction with Mr. Fuller, I proceed to the 
history of the proceedings thereon. For this, in the absence 
of church, 1 have followed the town records. Under date of 



HISTORY OF PRINCETON. 43 

May 24, 1775, is recorded the following vote: — "Voted 
on reading the paper received from the Congress that the 
committee of correspondence retire to receive the com- 
plaint of any person against any one suspected to be unfriend- 
ly to their country and that they make their report of such 
persons complained of to the town for their further considera- 
tion. The connnittee upon their return reported that the 
Rev. Mr. Fuller and Lieut. Caleb ^Mirick are complained of 
as persons suspected to be unfriendly to their country ; 
Mr. Fuller for refusing to call a Fast last year, and for his 
public discourse to the minute company the last Fast as tend- 
ing to discourage people in defending their rights and liberties, 
and for taking cattle suspected to be Col. Jones' property ; — 
Mr. Caleb Mirick for taking cattle suspected to be Col. Jones' 
and for entertaining tories at sundry times ; which complaint 
being read the town then voted that Mr. Fuller and Lieut. 
Caleb Mirick* be inquired of for their conduct touching said 
complaint." At the adjournment of this meeting on the 2d 
of June, INIr. Fuller presented a " paper," vindicating himself 
from the above-mentioned charges. The to^\•n, however, 
voted tills unsatisfactory, at the same time voting to hear Mr. 
Fuller "a fortnight longer in order to inquire further into his 
late conduct." At the expiration of this time a second paper 
was presented, which shared a like fate with the first. Nei- 
ther of these papers are on record, where they should be, in 
justice to their author. At the meeting June 16th, after 
rejecting the second " paper," " it w as moved to choose a 
committee to draw up something further for Mr. Fuller to 
sign as satisfactory to the town and to make report of the 
same. Accordingly made choice of ^Messrs. Sadcy Mason, 
Capt. IMoorc, Dea. How c, Chas. J3rooks and Jos. Eveleth," 
all active and cflicient supporters of the revolution, and, of 
course, opposed to Mr. Fuller. This committee, at a subse- 
quent meeting on the 20th of June, reported a paper for Mr. 
Fuller to sign as satisfactory to the town. " It was then 
moved, seconded and voted that jMr. Fuller sum the jjaper 
before the town act upon it ; accordingly agreeable to said 
vote the paper was signed by IMr. Fuller in presence of the 
town ; it was then put to see if the town were satisfied with 
said papers for his past conduct so far as it appeared unfriend- 

* With Mr. Mirick nothing more was done. Probably he satisfied ths 
town of the rectitude of his conduct and intentions. 



44 HISTORY OF PRINCETON. 

ly to the common cause, and it ivos voted not satisfactory.^' 
A truly singular course of proceeding, the town no little re- 
sembling a trading Yankee, afraid to set a price until he 
knows the most his purchaser w ill give. Nothing was proba- 
bly wanting to make this paper quite satisfactory, but INIr. 
Fuller's refusal to sign it. Two or three ineffectual attempts 
were made to reconsider the last mentioned vote, and, on the 
16th of August, a vote to request Mr. Fuller to ask a dismis- 
sion was passed, and on the 28th a committee chosen, consist- 
ing of Lieut. Mirick, Dea. Keyes, Mr. Brigham, ]Mr. Woods, 
and Ahner Howe, " to draw up" the reasons for this request. 
At the same time, the committee of correspondence made a 
report on his political conduct, reiterating the charges already 
made. On the 31st, at the adjournment of this meeting, Mr. 
Fuller presented a third " paper," in answer to the request of 
the town. This was equally unsatisfactory with the preced- 
ing. Oct. 5th, the town voted to request the aid of some of 
the committees of correspondence, in the neighboring towns, 
"to advise respecting Mr. Fuller's conduct as a tory." Dec. 
26th, it was voted to choose a committee, who, in conjunction 
with a committee of the church, should prepare allegations 
against Mr. Fuller, and on the 8th of January following, the 
town determined to unite with the church in calling a council 
in case the " advice the tow^n and church committees should 
obtain should make it appear proper to have a council." 
This council, consisting of the church in Worcester, West- 
minster, and the first in Shrewsbury, convened on the 11th of 
March, at the house of Caleb Mirick, and gave notice of their 
presence to Mr. Fuller, w4io communicated through them a 
letter to the town and church committee, proposing a mutual 
council on the following terms : — " 1st. To consist of nine 
churches, four to be chosen by each party, the ninth mutually, 
and none to be selected from this county, in consequence of 
the almost universal adoption, in Worcester county, of the 
' Bolton plan.' 2nd. Each church to be represented by its 
pastor and two delegates. 3d. That all articles of grievance 
be submitted to them. 4th. That each party be served with 
a copy of these articles at least fourteen days before the set- 
ting of the Council. 5th. That the Council regulate their 
own proceedings. 6th. That the number of persons sitting 
in Council from each church be equal. 7th. That each party 
choose several churches extraordinary, out of which they may 



HISTORY OF PlilNCETON. 45 

supply, if any of the first choice shouhl happen to fail." To 
these proposals the committee assented, with tiie exception of 
seven churches instead of nine, and proceeded, in company 
with ]Mr. Fuller, to the selection. They, however, disagreed 
in the selection of the " extraordinary churches," Mr. Fuller 
insisting that the committee chose, purposely, those to whom 
they knew he would ohject, and they, on the other hand, 
complaining loudly of the unreasonableness of his objections. 
The whole plan being thus defeated, the former council, with 
the addition of the first church in Dedham and that in Weston, 
met on the 16th of April, 1776, and requested IMr. Fuller to 
appear before them, by a letter from their moderator, Mr. 
Maccarty. This he refused, on the ground that they were 
an ex parte council, wholly devoted to the interests of his 
opposers. The council then proposed to name twelve church- 
es, from which each party should choose three, mutually agree- 
ing upon the church in Weston, then present, as the seventh^ 
which should be a council to settle all grievances. To this 
Mr. Fuller objected that as the \\ hole twelve from which the 
mutual council w as to be selected, were chosen by the sitting 
council, the proposed one would be, in effect, ex parte. " If 
my brethren had proposed to choose my judges," says INIr. 
Fuller, in his reply to the council, " I should not have thought 
it strange, but that you, gentlemen, should propose, that they 
should do the same thing by proxy, is a little wonderful." At 
the same time he proposed again a mutual council, on the same 
conditions as formerly. This was declined, on account of " the 
embarrassments thrown in the way," in a former attempt. 
The council then proceeded to advise Mr. Fuller to ask a 
dismission. Whereupon he waited on them, proposing a mu- 
tual council on one of two conditions. 1st. He would "set 
aside six of the churches which the brethren had chosen, they 
should set aside as many of the six he would choose," the 
remaining three, in each case, together with a seventh, mutu- 
ally selected, to constitute the council. 2d. " I w'lW set aside," 
says Mr. Fuller, " twenty churches, and the brethren as many 
more, and then we will each choose three congregational 
churches, of good standing, any where in the province, no 
objection on either side ; who, together with one mutually 
agreed upon, shall be a mutual council." Neither of these 
propositions were acceded to, and the council, on the 19th, 
advised to Mr. Fuller's dismission, and he w^as accordingly 



46 HISTORY OF PRINCETON. 

dismissed, by vote of the church, on the 20th, and the town, 
on the 24th. At the same lime, Lieut. Caleb Mirick, Dea. 
Adonijah Howe, Joseph Haynes, Samuel IMoseman, Lieut. 
Joseph Eveleth, James Mirick, and Nathaniel Cutler, were 
chosen a committee " to keep Mr. Fuller out of the pulpit." 
This connnittee attended the duty assigned them, and stand- 
ing on the pulpit stairs, as the law would have it, " did, on 
the following Sunday, with force and arms, restrain and keep 
out of the said pulpit, him the aforesaid Timothy Fuller." 
Mr. Fuller subsequently called an ex parte council, consisting 
of Messrs. Howard's church, Boston ; Payson's, Chelsea ; 
Whitney's, Shirley ; Adams's, Lunenburg ; Barnard's, Salem. 
The result of this council was, of course, favorable to Mr. 
Fuller. He also commenced a suit against the town in 1782, 
for the recovery of his salary from 1775, on the ground of 
an illegal dismission. This case was argued at Salem in Nov. 
1783, by the late Judge Parsons for the plaintiff, and Messrs. 
Sullivan and Lincoln for the defendants. A verdict was 
found for the defendants, and thus ended the controversy with 
the Rev. Mr. Fuller.* 



CHAPTER V. 

Invitations to Mr. Litchfield and Mr. Hubbard to settle in the ministry. Settle- 
ment of Mr. Crafts. His Letter to the Town and their Reply.— Dismission. 
Call to Mr. Goodrich. Erection of a new Meeting-house. Mr, Hussell's Settle- 
ment. His Letter to the Town and Dismission. Settlement and Dismission of 
Dr. Murdock. Troubles at the Settlement of Mr. Clarke. Separation in con- 
sequence of it. Mr. Clarke's Letter. 

For ten years subsequent to JMr. Fuller's dismission, in 
1776, no church records exist. It appears, however, from 
those of the town, that during this period, in which they were 
destitute of a settled minister, the pulpit was supplied l)y 
preachers hired (hu-ing those parts of the year, most favorable 
for a general attendance upon public worship. The sacra- 
ment was administered at stated intervals by .some one of the 
neighboring clergymen. During this time two unsuccessful 

* A sketch of Mr. Fuller, as well as the other ministers mentioned in 
this and the succeeding chapters, will be given under another head. 



HISTORY OF PRINCETON. 47 

cfForts were made to settle a minister. The first of these was 
in 1778, when the town voted '• to concur with the church in 
their choice of Mr, Litclifield for their pastor," at the same 
time offering him 600/. as a settlement, and a salary of 70/., 
one half payable in the fluctuating currency of the time, and 
the remainder " in money equivalant to Indian corn at four 
shillings a bushel." For some reason the town at a subse- 
quent meeting so far reconsidered this as to vote, " that there 
be paid to Mr. Paul Litchfield each and every year during 
his continuance in the ministry among us, seventy pounds, 
as followeth : twenty-three pounds, six shillings, eight pence, 
at the Rate of Indian Corn at three shillings per bushel. 
23/. 6s. 8f/. at the Rate of Beef at twenty shillings per hun- 
dred ; and 'Z'^l. iSs. 8(1. in Cash of the Present currency." Mr. 
Litchfield declined this invitation, which was renewed in 1779 
with the '^ settlemenf increased to 1200/., and the same sal- 
ary, only 17/. 105. however, being payable in the then cur- 
rency. This was also declined. 

In 1780 an invitation was given to a Mr. Ebenezer Hub- 
bard to settle in the place, and a salary of 73/. offered him, 
payable " at the rate of Indian Corn at 3s. Rye at four shil- 
lings a bushel, beef at 20 shillings per hundred, and pork at 
three and a half pence per pound."* Thirty cords of wood, 
annually, were subsequently added to this salary. Mr. Hub- 
bard, however, declined the invitation, and no further at- 
tempts to settle a minister were made until 1786, when the 
Rev. Thomas Crafts received and accepted an invitation from 
the church and town to become their pastor. He was ordain- 
ed on the 28th of June, 1786.f The churches present on 
this occasion, N\erc the Fourth in Bridgewater, the church in 
Brattle-street Boston, in Roxbury, Brookline, Shrewsbury, 
Rutland, Holden, and Sterling. 

Mr. Crafts continued minister of the town until 1791, when, 
at the instance of the following letter, he received a dismission 
from the pastoral relation : — 

* It is hardly necessary to observe tliis as well as similar provisions in 
the preceding proposals to Mr. Litchfield was an expedient to avoid the 
fluctuations of the currency of the time. 

t No little display would seem to have been had on this occasion, if we 
may judge from the following account, which I accidentally came across, 
among a mass of loose papers in the Town Clerks onice, and which speaks 
loud for the multitude present, or the poverty of the town. The people of 



48 HISTORY OF PRINCETON. 

" To the Inhabitants of Princeton, to be communicated : 

My Friends and Brethren, — In consequence of my ill state 
of health, 1 requested the Selectmen some time since, to in- 
sert in their warrant for March meeting, an article respecting 
my dismission, which I suppose will this Day be laid before 
you. — My reasons for submitting the matter to the town at 
this time, I view weighty and important. — They are these. 

1st. There being no present prospect of my recovering 
such a degree of Health, as to be able to carry on the work 
of the Ministry. 

2nd. An inal)ility to supply my Pulpit any longer. 

3d. An unwillingness to embarrass my People, or to be the 
means of the pulpit's being unsupplied. 

My request therefore is, That the relation in which I now 
stand" to the Church and Congregation in this place, as your 
Minister, may be dissolved. — jMy Friends, — it is a painful 
seperation to me, — but it is the \\]\\ of God, and therefore 1 
acquiesce. — Permit me to return you my warmest thanks for 
all those numerous and pointed marks of attention, respect, 
and generosity, which I have received from you. — And do me 
the justice to believe that I shall ever retain them in grateful 
remembrance. I assure you, that your Interest will ever be 
near my heart, and that I shall ever entertain a high esteem, 
and feel an ardent affection for my Brethren of Princeton, till 
the hand that writes this shall moulder in the dust. Com- 
mending you to God and the riches of his grace, and entreat- 

Princeton would be tlie last to let such an occasion pass wantinir in a single 
one of the " irood things of this life," which usually load the groaning ta- 
bles of an oruination day. 

" Tlin tnwn nf Princeton to mc drhtor. 
For (Toinf to 11 udwick, to carry Mr. Crafts the call of tlie 

town, - - - - 9 

Also for fetching cider, plates and disiies from Shrewsbury, 

and carryino- them hack again, - - - - - Of) 00 

For going to Westminster for knives and forks, and for a 

horse to carry one of the cooks home, - - - - 7 

For nine dozen of eggs for the Council, - - - 



18 
Princeton, June 30, 1780." Adonijaii Howe. 

I also find, about tiiis time, — 

" The Town of Princelnn to Samuel Dadman, Dr. 

For one leg of bacon, lli 3-4 lbs. lo 11 2" 

which, it is no unfounded conjecture to suppose, went the way of the " nine 
dozen of eggs for the Council." 



HISTORY OF PRINCETON. 49 

ing him to make you perfect in every good work — I bid you 
a long and afi'ectionate farewell. 

Yours respectfully 

Thomas Crafts. 
Princeton, March 14, 1791." 

Of the love and esteem in which INIr. Crafts was held by 
the people of his charge, the following letter, sent him on the 
occasion of his dismission, is ample and unsolicited testimony. 

" Revd. Sir, — The Church and Congregation in Princeton 
having this day, according to your request, voted your dismis- 
sion from your Pastoral Relation, solely on the account of 
your ill state of heahh and little prospect of your future use- 
fulness in that work ; We the Church and Congregation in this 
place declare that it is with reluctance that we are constrained 
to part with you under these considerations ; — that it has been 
with pleasure and much satisfaction that we have sat under 
your ministry ; — that we sincerely sympathize with you under 
these (your) afflictions; that we ardently wish Almighty God 
would take you and your family under his Gracious Protection, 
and if it be his pleasure, to give you a confirmed state of 
health, and make you yet useful in your public character, and 
long continue you a blessing to the world. 

We ask an interest in your Prayers, and subscribe, 
Your affectionate Friends and Brethren, 

^losEs Gill, INIoderator. 

Sio^ned at the request of the town in town meeting assembly. 

To the Rev. Mr. Thos. Crafts." 

After Mr. Crafts's dismissal, the Rev. Hezekiah Goodrich, 
subsequently the minister of Rutland, supplied the pulpit for 
some time, and in November, 1791, it was voted, that "Mr. 
Hezekiah Goodrich's late preaching has been acceptable to 
the town, and that the committee be instructed to apply to 
him to preach six sabbaths upon probation." He however re- 
ceived no invitation from the church or town, to become their 
pastor. He probably declined preaching " upon probation." 
The town were again destitute of a settled minister, from 
1791 until 1796. 

During this interval, however, measures were taken for 
erecting a new house of worship, and on the 9th of March, 
7 



50 HISTORY OF PRINCETON. 

1795, it was voted " to build a new meeting-house, agreeable 
to the petition of Capt. Sam'l Hastings and others," and a 
committee chosen to estimate the expense. This committee 
reported, at a subsequent meeting, the probable expense at 
1799/. Ss. and the probable amount arising from the sale of 
pews, the old house, &,c. at 1875/. Whereupon a committee, 
consisting of Hon. IMoscs Gill, Capt. Samuel Hastings, Lieut. 
Amos Merriam, David Brooks, and William Whitaker, was 
chosen to superintend the erection. This house was com- 
pleted in the following year, and is the one at present occu- 
pied by the congregational society. Its dimensions are seventy 
by fifty-five feet. It contains seventy -five ground, and twenty- 
six gallery pews. The committee were widely mistaken in 
their estimate of its cost. By the town records, I find this to 
have been, exclusive of the bell, which was subsequently pur- 
chased for ^470, and the painting, for which ^'320 was 
afterwards raised, 2273/. 35. 5d. and the receipts from the sale 
of the pews,* he. 1728/. 3.?. Id. leaving a deficit of 545/. 
05. 4r/. which was raised by a general tax. 

This house, after withstanding the severity of forty winters 
in the bleakest and most exposed situation (the top of Wachu- 
sett alone excepted) in the town, has become so dilapidated 
as to be unsuitable for the objects of its erection. It is no 
little amusing to witness the furious contest which is continu- 
ally going on of a windy day,|- between the preacher's voice 
and the rattling windows and clapboards, each being alter- 
nately in the ascendant, while the latter is invariably the more 
efficient in inculcating the solemn truth, " The Lord terri- 
ble reigneth." Why it should ever have occupied its present 
location, is a question soluble only by supposing it emblemat- 
ical of the heavenly way, indicating it to be upward and 
somewhat toilsome and difficult. Or perhaps its builders 
may have been actuated by a slight remnant of Catholic su- 
perstition, and intended to impose a kind of penance on the 
worshippers here. Whatever may have been the object, it is 
certain, it is a peculiarly happy expedient to test the strength 
of the people's devotion. 



" The highest sum obtained for any pew in this lioiise was 3GL which 
was paid by Micliael Gill, Esq. for JNo. (50. 

t The new church, now in process of erection, will relieve the preacher 
from this unequal contest. 



HISTORY OF PRINCETON. 51 

Before the completion of this house, the Rev. Joseph Rus- 
sell received and accepted an invitation from the church and 
town to settle over them in the work of the ministry. On 
the 7th of December, 1795, the town voted unanimously to 
concur with the church in their "call" to Mr. Russell, at the 
same time voting to dispense with " the usual mode of giving 
a settlement in the case, and that the sum of four hundred 
thirty-three dollars and one third of a dollar be paid him year- 
ly, during his continuance in the ministry. It was also sub- 
sequently voted to " furnish Mr. Russell with twenty-five 
cords of good merchantable wood annually, delivered to him 
at his dwelling-housC; so long as he shall continue our minis- 
ter, and the price of staple commodities remain as they now 
are ; but when the capital articles of consumption shall revert 
back to their former standard, that is to say, when the price 
of Beef shall be reduced from thirty-six to twenty -four shil- 
lings per hundred ; Pork from six to four pence per pound ; 
Rye from six to four shillings per bushel ; Indian Corn from 
four and sixpence to three shillings per bushel ; then the 
whole expense of the wood, be it more or less, shall be de- 
ducted from the hundred and thirty pounds already voted by 
the town, and so in a less proportion as the price of those 
commodities shall gradually decrease." 

j\Ir. Russell was ordained March 16, 1796. The churches 
present were that in Somers and Brookline, Ct. that in Brattle 
Street, Boston, in Charlestown, Brookline, Carlisle, Shrews- 
bury, Paxton, Holden, Rutland, Hubbardston, Westminster, 
and Sterling. Dr. I\Iorse of Charlestown made the introduc- 
tory. Dr. Thacher of Boston the ordaining, and Dr. Sumner 
of Shrewsbury the concluding, prayer. ^Ir. Jackson of Brook- 
line gave the charge, and Mr. Hubbard of Sterling the right 
hand of fellowship. Mr. Backus of Somers preached from 
Matthew, xvi. 26 — " For what is a man profited, if he shall 
gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a 
man give in exchange for his soul ?" 

iMr. Russell continued the minister of the town for six 
years, until 1801, when he asked a dismission in a letter to 
the town, of which the following extract contains all of ma- 
terial importance: — '" Convinced, from several years experi- 
ence, that aj)plication to study is injuiious to me, and finding 
myself unable to pursue a studious life with that degree of 
assiduity, which my present engagements indispensably re- 



52 HISTORY OF PRINCETON. 

quire, and liavino; no reason to expect that my situation will 
be altered for the better should a further experiment be made, 
I beg leave, gentlemen, to come forward in friendship and 
candidly express my desire that the town concur with the 
church in consenting to my dismission. As six years have 
been witness to the peace and good understanding which have 
invariably existed between us, it is my earnest Vv^ish, now 
that a separation is become necessary, that we may part in 
peace, and that every individual will be so liberal in sentiment 
and so candid in acting as to cheerfully comply with my re- 
quest with the same freedom and readiness which in a change 
of circumstances they might desire to have exercised towards 
them." 

The reasons set forth in this letter seem not to have satis- 
fied the town of the necessity of a dismission, and a commit- 
tee was chosen to request the attendance of Mr. Russell at 
the adjournment of the meeting, to answer publicly to such 
questions as might be put to him, — a course of proceeding as 
extraordinary as the result of it must have been unpleasant. 
This drew from him the following communication : — 

" To the inhabitants of Princeton : 

Gentlemen, — You will consider, I presume, that the hap- 
piness of this town, in future years, depends much on your 
conducting the business before you in a peaceable, friendly 
manner, — and I do most sincerely desire, looking at the good 
of the town in future, that you may do nothing to create di- 
vision in the society, or to prejudice the public mind, or the 
minds of individuals, who may be introduced into the town, 
against it. As for myself, I can sincerely say, that whatever 
may be the conduct of individuals towards me, — though they 
attempt to wound my feelings, and load me with abuse, I ever 
have been and still am a friend to the town, — and am per- 
fectly ready to do any thing in my power, consistent with the 
respect due to my public character, towards the settlement of 
the business before us in a friendly way. From the commu- 
nication which 1 have made to the church, to the selectmen, 
and to many individuals in all parts of the town, I am ready 
to think that the inhabitants generally have correct and thor- 
ough information respecting my reasons for desiring a removal 
from my pastoral office in this town, and if individuals do not 
Jfeel disposed to allow validity to those reasons, on the ground 



HISTORY OF PRINCETON. 53 

of my own testimony, T know that it will be in my power to 
give them satisfaction. — I freely declare my readiness, gen- 
tlemen, to afford you all the information on the subject, which 
can in the least assist towards your forming a judicious decis- 
ion on the business before you ; — and I am willing to answer 
at a proper place every friendly inquiry which an honest de- 
sire to arrive at truth may suggest ; — but to such questions as 
passion, prejudice, or a disposition to cavil may dictate I shall 
pay no attention. Considering the relation existing between 
us, it is your right, as I have proposed a dissolution of this 
relation, to know my reasons for desiring it. These reasons I 
have no wish to keep private ; they are already before you 
for your consideration while attending to the business in which 
you (\ye) are mutually concerned. But, on the other hand, 
should any individuals be curiously inquisitive concerning my 
own personal concerns, these 1 claim the right of keeping to 
myself and conducting at pleasure, without being accountable 
to any man, or society of men. — In reply to the vote of the 
town, handed me by my friend Capt. Dana, I answer directly, 
that I am ready to meet this afternoon a committee from the 
town on the business of my dismission, and to repeat to them 
if necessary the statements which I have already made in 
public and private. Believing that this mode of communica- 
tion if pursued will lead directly to every explanation which 
can be useful to you, and which any individual who is a true 
friend of the town can reasonably desire, you will permit me 
to decline a personal attendance at the meeting. — Accept, 
gentlemen, the tender of my respects. 

(Signed) Joseph Russell. 

Princeton, Sept. 2\st. 1801." 

For the better comprehension of some of the allusions in 
the above letter, it is necessary to remark, that Mr. Russell 
had been accused of desiring a release from the pastoral rela- 
tion from merely selfish views, being anxious to enter upon 
some more lucrative employment ; a charge which, if well 
founded, shows the town little wise, and still less alive to 
their spiritual interests, in attempting, against his will, to re- 
tain such a personage in the pastoral office ; while if unfound- 
ed, it betrayed the deepest malignity in individuals, and dis- 
played a want of confidence on the part of the town, in its 
momentary entertainment, alone sufficient to call for a disso- 



54 HISTORY OF PRINCETON. 

lution of the relation in which ]Mr. Russell stood to them. 
The riirht of the town to take cognizance of the matter, sup- 
posing he did wish a more lucrative occupation and a dismission 
on this account solely, is extremely questionable. While the 
fact that the charge rested only on vague and indefinite hints 
should iiave at once destroyed all credence to it. The last 
letter of Mr. Russell seems to have convinced the town of 
both these truths, and he was dismissed w ithout farther oppo- 
sition. ♦ 

Soon after Mr. Russell's dismission, the Rev. now Dr. 
James Murdock commenced preaching to the church and so- 
ciety in Princeton, and on the 18th of March, 1802, received 
a unanimous invitation from the former, and on the 5th of 
April, from the latter, with the exception of a single dissent- 
ing vote, to become their minister. To this invitation Mr. 
Murdock returned a conditionally affirmative answer. The 
encouragement offered Dr. Murdock by the town was a salary 
of ^'366 2-3 and the improvement of a farm which they had 
previously purchased as a parsonage, worth probably ,^'60 
more. The additional stipulations which he desired may be 
best learned from his reply. 

" To the Church and Town of Princeton : 

Having considered your joint invitation to settle with you 
in the work of the Gospel Ministry, I have after much serious 
deliberation, and after asking council of the great Disposer of 
Events, concluded to accept your invitation, on the condition 
you agree to the following additional articles : — 

First, should any controversy hereafter arise between the 
Church and the Pastor, or between the Town and the Pastor, 
which cannot be settled privately to the satisfaction of both 
parties, or should any complaint be accepted by the Church 
against the Pastor, a Mutual Council shall immediately be call- 
ed to hear and determine the matter. And unless a different 
agreement shall be made by mutual consent, the Council shall 
consist of an equal number of Pastors and Delegates from sev- 
en Churches : which Council shall be chosen, regulated and 
possess such powers as hereafter mentioned, viz. Having 
mutually agreed upon the first Church, each ))arty shall choose 
three Cliurches, of regular standing within this Commonwealth ; 
these seven churches when met in Council shall regulate their 



HISTORY OF PRINCETON. 55 

own proceedings as they may see fit ; and their decision shall 
be final as to all matters regularly laid before them. 

2d. Should the Pastor wish to take a Journey to visit his 
fi-iends, or for his health, or for necessary business, he shall be 
permitted to leave the desk vacant, not exceeding three sab- 
baths in a year. 

3d. Should the Pastor at any future period find himself able 
to make the purchase, he shall have the privilege of purchas- 
ing, at ,'j^l200, the farm heretofore occupied by the Rev. Mr. 
Russell and Capt. Henry Prentiss, which the town purchased 
of Lieut. Bartholomew Cheever, on the 5th day of April, A. D. 
1802, on condition that if the Pastor or his heirs should after- 
wards be disposed to sell the premises, the town shall have 
the refusal of them. Should the Pastor purchase as aforesaid 
there shall annually be added the sum of twenty pounds, equal 
to sixty-siK dollars and two-thirds of a dollar, to the sum of 
one hundred and ten pounds, equal to three-hundred and 
sixty-six dollars and two-thirds of a dollar, mentioned in the 
vote of the town, passed the 5tli day of April, A. D. 1802. 

The first of these articles, viz. that respecting a council, I 
conceive to be calculated to settle speedily any controversy 
which might arise to interrupt that harmony and cordiality 
between minister and people .so necessary to mutual happi- 
ness, and the prosperity of the Redeemer's kingdom. View- 
ing the subject in this manner, I cannot but feel strongly im- 
pressed w ith a sense of the importance of such an article. 

Trusting that you will readily coincide ^ith me in opinion 
I forbear to add anything farther on this important subject. 

The second article is doubtless of much less importance 
than the first ; yet I think it to be calculated to prevent un- 
easiness and therefore reasonable and proper. 

Tiie third and last article, if I am rightly informed, is not 
materially dilterent from one in the report of the committee of 
the town made on the fifth of April, which the town were 
unable at that meeting to accept, because of a former vote, 
which was found to be so worded as to interfere with it. 
Considering the article as calculated to promote the comfort 
and happiness of my family, without injury to the town, 
which has so just a claim to my esteem and gratitude, per- 
suade myself you will be happy in an opportunity of exhibit- 
ing to the world another proof of that harmonions unanim- 



5b HISTORY OF PRINCETON. 

ity* and liberality, whicli so highly distinguish the town of 
Princeton. 

Should the Church and Town in their wisdom see fit to 
insert these additional articles, or the substance of them, 1 
hold myself bound to comply with their joint invitation, and 
to devote myself to their service in the work of the ministry. 

James Murdock. 

Princeton, April 24th, A. D. 1802." 

The town having acceded to the proposals of this letter, 
Dr. Murdock was ordained June 23d, 1602. The services 
on this occasion were performed as follows : — the introductory 
prayer by the Rev. Mr. Goodrich of Rutland, the ordaining 
prayer by the Rev. Dr. Sumner of Shrewsbury, and the con- 
cluding prayer by the Rev. IMr. Holcomb of Sterling. The 
Rev. Mr. Rice of Westminster gave the Charge, and tlie 
Rev. Mr. Avery of Holden the Right Hand of Fellow- 
ship. The Rev. Jonathan Murdock of Bozrali, Ct. preached 
on the occasion from 1 Peter, i. 12 — " Which things the an- 
gels like to look into." In addition to these churches, whose 
ministers participated in the services, there was present also- 
that in Boylston, under the charge of the Rev. William 
Nash. 

Dr. Murdock continued minister of the town, possessing 
the unlimited confidence and esteem of the people of his 
charge, until the summer of 1815, when he was appointed 
Professor of the Learned Languages in the University of 
Vermont, at Burlington, and on the advice of a mutual coun- 
cil, convened according to one of the stipulations made at his 
settlement, accepted the appointment. This of course led to 
a dissolution of his pastoral relation with the town of Prince- 
ton, much to their sorrow, and with no little regret on his 
part. Dr. Murdock was dismissed Oct. 11, 1815, and entered 
immediately on his new sphere of duties at Burlington. The 
ecclesiastical council which advised and consummated his 
dismission, close their "Result" with the following remarks : — 
" While we sympathise with this Church and People under 



* Dr. Murdock was here guilty of a slight touch of excusable flattery, or 
the people liave sadly deteriorated in the matter of " unanimity" since 
tiiose golden days. 



HISTORY OF PRINCETON. 57 

the removal of a Pastor they so highly esteemed, we are no 
less happy in being able to express our unqualified approbation 
of the conduct of the Church on this tender subject. The re- 
spect and kindness which both the Church and People have 
shown to their minister, and the pleasing union and harmony, 
which subsist among them, excite a pleasing hope and con- 
fident expectation, that they will make speedy and successful 
exertions for the re-settlement of the gospel ministry, and 
know from long and happy experience " how good and how 
pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity." 

Soon after the dismission of Dr. Murdock, the Rev. Samuel 
Clarke commenced preaching to the church and town. Mr. 
Clarke was understood to differ in some points of religious 
faith from his predecessor, and the controversy which preced- 
ed and succeeded his settlement was long and bitter, each 
party, without doubt, in the phrensied excitement of the mo- 
ment, pursuing measures ill advised, and still more injudicious- 
ly carried into effect. Mutual conciliation and concession are 
rare characteristics of religious controversy, strange and melan- 
choly as the fact may be. We would not assert that there 
may not be controversies which pure principle and an unde- 
viating regard for the dictates of Christianity have originated. 
Such there undoubtedly are. Yet that religion, whose doc- 
trines are "peace on earth, and goodwill to men," and which 
inculcates love to our neighbor as the second great command, 
is of a too pure and heaven-born nature to flourish in the col- 
lision of angry passions, or amid the tumultuous scenes of world- 
ly strife. Devotion is too tender and delicate a plant to be 
exposed to the frosts and chills of religious contention. Prin- 
ciples are indeed sacred, and we would be the last to advise 
their compromise or surrender. Yet there may be firmness 
without obstinacy, and decision without offence. If men would 
but keep in view this truth, religious controversies would entire- 
ly cease, or, deprived of their acrimony, part with their chief 
characteristic. How far the people of Princeton may have 
forgotten this important truth, or ceased for a tune to act up- 
on it, is not for me to say. 

The first action of the town with respect to Mr. Clarke, 
was had June 25th, 1816, when, in accordance with an article 
of the warrant to that effect, they voted " to instruct the com- 
mittee for supplying the Pulpit to request Mr. Samuel Clarke to 
return and preach farther with them in order for a settlement." 
8 



58 HISTORY or PRINCETON. 

In the August following, a further vote (yeas 102, noes 44) 
was passed " to give Mr. Clarke a call to settle with them in 
the work of the ministry." A committee was also appointed 
at the same meeting to request a church meeting, and, if possi- 
ble, a concurrence in this invitation. A church meeting was ac- 
cordingly held, and a vote of non-concurrence passed, nineteen 
to eight. This at once brought the church and town into col- 
lision. To a maioi'ity of the former, not only were some of the 
sentiments of Mr. Clarke obnoxious, but they also strenuously 
resisted the proceedings of the town, as irregidar and opposed 
to ecclesiastical usage, inasmuch as they went directly to the 
overthrow of what they deemed an essential prerogative of the 
church, in denying her the right of a distinct and primary 
choice in the election of a pastor. A majority of the town, on 
the other hand, were not only warmly attached to the religious 
views of Mr. Clarke, but disposed to cany out to the full ex- 
tent, the spirit of the then recent judicial decisions of the state, 
recognising the church only as a constituent part of the par- 
ish, and as entitled to no immunities beyond those belonging 
to it as such. These decisions, which set at variance those 
of the ecclesiastical assemblies of New-England, were then 
fresh before the public, and the theme of no little controversy, 
and may have tended in some degree to have enhanced the 
troubles attending Mr. Clarke's settlement. The one party, 
flush with the pleasures of success, pushing their newly ac- 
quired power to extremes, while the other, equally tenacious 
of their former privileges, or perhaps still more obstinate in 
their adherence to them under the sense of their invasion, 
refused the most trivial concessions, which, under ordinary 
circumstances, they would readily and cheerfully have 
granted. 

After a second ineftectual attempt to procure the concurrence 
of the church, the town resolved to proceed independent of it, 
and accordingly connnunicated their request to Mr. Clarke, 
at the same time oiicring him a salary of six hundred dollars. 
To this invitation IVfr. Clarke returned a negative answer, al- 
leging as the reason of it, a dislike to become the instrument 
of division among the inhabitants, and also an entire disincli- 
nation to settle in the midst of the controversy then raging, 
and of which there was little probaljility of an immediate or 
ultimate cessation. The town and church were at variance 
not merely on points of form, but essential principles. What 



HISTORY OF PRINCETON. 59 

these were may be best learned from the followintr extracts 
from a remonsti-ance, addressed by the latter to Mr. Clarke, in 
which is set forth their objections to him. After stating the 
impossibility of their reception of him as their pastor, they con- 
tinue, " we are brought to this conclusion, not through dis- 
affection to your person, nor any deficiency in your abilities, 
or any fault we find in your moral character, but especially 
for tiie two following reasons, which are with us of primary 
consideration, and which we presume you cannot view with 
indifference. We present them to you distinctly. 

The first is, because we cannot consent to give up our 
rights and privileges, and sanction the irregularity of receiving 
a minister in whose call and settlement we have not a primary 
and distinct choice. We understand it to have been the in- 
variable custom of the New-England churches, in their earlier 
and better days, and which has not till of late been disregard- 
ed, in the first place to make choice of their o\\ n minister, 
and then to invite the town or parish to concur in their elec- 
tion and call, and to aid in the settlement. This is the prac- 
tice to which we have ever been accustomed, and which we 
view as our natural, inherent right, founded in reason and the 
sacred principlesof Christianity, and which we are, at present, 
by no means prepared to surrender. We hold it as an un- 
questionable truth, that every church of Christ has an inalien- 
able right to choose its own pastor and teacher ; and that the 
exercise of this right is conducive to the prosperity of religion 
and the welfare of civil society, while the denial or suspension 
of it is of the most inauspicious tendency. We cannot there- 
fore view with indifference the introduction of a different prac- 
tice among our churches, nor without the deepest concern the 
attempt to introduce it in this place, by the circumstances of 
the call with which you have been presented. 

The other reason why we cannot consent to receive you 
as our minister, is, because we are not satisfied with the doc- 
trines which you have preached, and which it is presumed you 
will continue to preach should you be settled here. However 
correct you may \iew yourself, and however many good things 
you may say, yet we are constrained to think that your 
scheme of doctrine is not fundamentally that which is reveal- 
ed in the Holy Scriptures. Without any impeachment of 
your honesty and sincerity, we must view the gospel which 
you preach to be radically a different thing from that preach- 



60 HISTORY OF PRINCETON. 

ed by Christ and his apostles, and which the primitive and re 
formed churches received. It is with no small concern w( 
have viewed the attempts recently made in our own countr} 
to alter and mutilate the sacred records of our faith ; to lowei 
down the character of our divine and adorable Saviour to thai 
of a mere man or of a mere creature ; and to subvert the 
foundation of our heavenly hopes, laid in the sacrifice of atone- 
ment offered on the cross. We wish not to have a scheme ol 
religion, of which these are some of the leading principles, 
preached in this place. However many apparently good 
things may be mixed with it, we are fully persuaded that it 
will not conduce to our own edification, to the good of our 
children, nor to the spiritual welfare of the people in this 
town." 

Such were the objections of a majority of the church to the 
settlement of Mr. Clarke. Of their validity every one will, of 
course, be his own judge. The fact that they supposed him 
to differ from them in his religious faith, was certainly suffi- 
cient to warrant them in their refusal to receive him as their 
minister. How far this should have presented an obstacle to 
his settlement over those who professed to coincide fully in his 
views, is matter of more question. If the objection on the 
part of the church was good against Mr. Clarke's ordination 
over the town, a similar one would have been equally valid, 
on the part of the tov/n, against any candidate which a ma- 
jority of the church would have selected. The same principle, 
precisely, which induced one party to accept, inclined the 
other with equal strength to reject. Hence a separation be- 
came apparently inevitable. Yet strong as the case would 
seem, there was, after all, far less differenceof sentiments than 
would at first appear. It is not improbable that had there 
been less of passion and excitement, coupled with somewhat 
more of caution and deliberation, as well as a more bountiful 
share of the soothing spirit of conciliation, the unhappy sep- 
aration which ensued, might have been in a great measure 
prevented, and the town spared the melancholy, and, aside 
iVom its effects, amusing exhibition of a professedly religious 
community contending strenulously for twenty years, at last to 
find themselves quarrelling with redoubled energy, to decide 
the particular manner in which hostilities shall cease among 
those, whom a community of views, feelings, and interests, 
would long ago have united. 



HISTORY OF PRINCETON. 61 

On the 14th of October, 1816, the town met for the con- 
sideration of Mr. Clarke's reply to their invitation. At 
this meeting a committee was chosen " to see what further 
encouragement it would be proper to offer Mr. Clarke as an 
inducement to settle in the work of the ministry." This 
connnittee reported that the same salary as before, with the 
addition of a " settlement" of four hundred dollars, be offered 
him. This report was accepted at the adjournment of the 
meeting on the following day, and the call renewed. Mr. 
Clarke returned a second negative answer, alleging the same 
reasons as on the former occasion. In this second invitation 
the church appears not to have been consulted. 

Notwithstanding this repeated refusal of Mr. Clarke, a ma- 
jority of the town, who had become warmly attached to him, 
were unwilling to relinquish the hope of an ultimate concur- 
rence of the church and his final settlement. Accordingly, in 
January, 1817, a petition, addressed to the selectmen, re- 
questing them to call a town meeting to renew the invitation 
to Mr. Clarke, was circulated through the town, and signed 
by one hundred and five voters. This led to a meeting of 
the town, February 11, 1817, and a renewal of the invitation, 
with a request of concurrence on the part of the church. 
This was again refused, by a vote of twenty to six. In this 
state of things, the collision between church and town at its 
height, in the natural excitement of ill feelings engendered in 
a long and bitter contest, and now inflamed to the utmost 
point of mutual jealousy and hatred, the two bodies voted to 
refer their troubles to the decision of a mutual council. And, 
as if to consummate the contest, this was selected from op- 
posing sects, a course which we should naturally expect, an 
expectation fully realized in the event, could have no other 
effect than to produce a " Result" from the majority and a 
protest from the minority, each tending to strengthen their own 
friends in their previously conceived views of right and ex- 
pediency in the matter. The council called consisted of the 
church in Worcester under the charge of the Rev. Dr. Ban- 
croft, the church in Shrewsbury, that in Lancaster, that in 
Millbury, and that in Rindge, — each of these churches being 
represented by their pastor and a delegate. The three former 
were supposed to be favorably inclined to the proceedings of 
the town, the two latter to those of the church — a supposition 
which the result j)roved correct. 



62 HISTORY OF PRINCETON. 

The council assembled March 6th, 1817, and, after an ex- 
amination of the matter submitted to them, came to the fol- 
lowing; conclusion : — 

" That by reason of existino difHcullies in this church and 
town ; and as there is opened by Providence a prospect of 
the re-settlement of the Christian ministry, if a spirit of mutual 
condescension and forbearance is in exercise ; this Council 
do, after due deliberation, and in the pei-suasion that it will 
be more conducive to the restoration of union than any other 
means they can devise, offer for the consideration of this 
church the following advice : That on the seventeenth day of 
the present month, the brethren of the church be regularly 
notified to assemble in church meeting ; that, when assem- 
bled, the original covenant* of this church, a copy of which 
accompanies the Result of this council, and in which an alter- 
ation will be found, to conform it to the language of scripture, 
be submitted to their consideration. We assure the members, 
who shall adopt this covenant, that we will recognise them as 
the church of Christ in Princeton. After taking this step, we 
recommend to them, as soon as may be, to submit to their 
body the question of concurrence with the town in the elec- 
tion of Mr. Samuel Clarke to be their minister. In case they 
shall concur, and he shall accept their invitation, we recom- 
mend that a joint committee of the church and town be au- 
thorized to issue letters missive for the purpose of inviting 
an Ordaining Council to consummate the proposed union." 

This advice, in view of all the circumstances, cannot be re- 
garded but as judicious. There was no probability, at this 
period of the controversy, that a reconciliation between the 
two opposing parties would ensue, should Mr. Clarke leave. 
On the contrary, the supposition was well grounded that the 
breach would have been still farther widened by such an 
event. The majority of the town, exasperated at being dis- 
appointed in their efforts to procure the settlement of their 
favorite candidate, would have labored with no little zeal 
against any person whom the church might have selected, 

* During Dr. Murdock's ministry, a new church coveniuit, differing essen- 
tially in its language from that of the Rev. Mr. Russell, had been introduced 
without objection, 1 believe, at its introduction, but whicli was now obnox- 
ious to the minority of the church. As this covenant lias already appeared 
two or three times in print in the i)amphlets which this controversy called 
forth, and as it is not of material consequence, its republication is unneces- 
sary. It is the same at jjresent in use by the church. 



HISTORY OF rniNCETON. 63 

however unexceptionable he might have been at another 
time. Besides, there was at this stage of the contest, doubt- 
less, difference of sentiment, real or fancied, sufficient to war- 
rant a separation. Convinced of these facts, the council di- 
rected their efforts rather to the prevention of greater, than 
the reconciliation of existing difficulties. Mr. Clarke beyond 
question united more votes of the town than any other candi- 
date would, while possessed of those mild and amiable virtues, 
which, while they rendered him adverse to a settlement in 
the midst of controversy, endeared him to the people, and 
peculiarly fitted him for a position which would require their 
constant and yet often unsuccessful exercise, he was peculiar- 
ly adapted to the situation, which subsequent events called 
him to fill. 

Of the ten individuals composing the council, six supported 
the " Result," while the remaining four gave their views in a 
" Protest," in which, after expressing their dissent from said 
Result, they assign the following reasons in justification : — 

1. "Because it recommends an unnecessary and unau- 
thorized subversion of the confession of faith and form of cov- 
enant adopted by this church in circumstances peculiarly 
solemn, and which appear to us happily calculated to main- 
tain the purity of the cliurch in faith and practice. 

2. Because said Result appears to us inconsistent with the 
character given by inspiration of the church as the pillar and 
ground of the truth ; and as an unwarrantable attack on the 
rights and usages of the New-England churches, which have 
been uniformly recognised from the infancy of the country to 
the present day. 

3. Because said Result exhibits an alarming stretch of ec- 
clesiastical power, which threatens the liberties and privileges, 
and even existence of congregational churches, by depriving 
them of the right of choosing their own pastors, breaking down 
their sacred enclosures, and subjecting them to the unenlight- 
ened guidance of the world. 

4. Because, in our view, said Result tends to perpetuate 
and increase the unhappy divisions which exist in this church 
and society, and which might probably be healed by such 
temperate measures as wisdom and duty appear to dictate." 

The validity of the three first of these reasons it is not our 
province to argue. Those curious to examine them in detail 
are refered to the " Remarks, Notes, and Observations" upon, 



64 HISTORY OF PRINCETON. 

and the " Vindication" of the proceedings of the Council ; 
two pamphlets which appeared at the time, the former from 
the pen of the Rev. Mr. (xoft'e of Millhiuy, and the latter from 
that of Dr. Bancroft of Worcester. Of the fourth reason we 
have already given our views. 

The Result of the council was laid before the church for 
their action March 17th, 1817, when they voted, twenty to 
eight, a non-compliance with its recommendations. No ac- 
tion was necessary on the part of the town, inasmuch as they 
had already anticipated the decision of the council in their 
invitation to Mr. Clarke, which was still awaiting his reply. 
This was received in the April following, and is subjoined. 

" To the Congregational Society in Princeton. 

My Christian Brethren and Friends, — When I last address- 
ed you from this sacred place, I bid you an affectionate, and, 
as I then supposed, a final farewell. I believed that I was 
doing my duty, both to you and myself, in again negativing 
your invitation, to settle with you in the work of the ministry. 
The consciousness of having done my duty gave me satisfac- 
tion and peace. Contrary, however, to my expectations, at 
that time, you have seen fit to renew your invitation ; and by 
the hands of your committee I lately received your third call 
to settle with you in the Christian Ministry. This repeated 
proof of your firm attachment to my person and doctrines has 
excited in my mind the liveliest emotions of pleasure and grat- 
itude. I have again been led to deliberation, and to connnit 
my cause to that all wise and good Being, who is able and 
willing to impart all necessary light and instruction. Be as- 
sured, my friends, that it has been to me an anxious, a trying 
season. After, however, mature consideration, and fervent 
prayer ; having received the fullest possible assurance of your 
increased attachment to me, and zeal to obtain me as your 
minister ; having received the assurances of a very respectable 
part of the church of their firm resolution to unite with the 
town in my Ordination ; and having received the advice con- 
tained in the result of an enlightened and pious mutual Coun- 
cil, lately convened in this place, together with the advice of 
many distinguished ministers and laymen, in whose judgement 
I have the highest confidence, I have been able to come to a 
decision. This decision has been formed in the fear of God ; 
and from the heart I can say, that a sincere desire to promote 



HISTORY OF PRINCETON. 65 

his glory and your temporal and spiritual welfare iias influ- 
enced it. In the presence and in the fear of Almighty God 
I accept your invitation to settle with you in the solemn and 
interesting work of the Gospel Ministry. 

My Brethren, 1 come to you with the deepest humility, sen- 
sible of my ow n insufficiency for so great an undertaking ; yet 
relying on the mercy and assistance of that great and good 
Being, who has hitherto directed my steps, and praying, that 
in this trying important hour he would not forsake, but still 
continue to prosper and bless me, I come breathing nothing 
but love and peace. It is from the conviction that your har- 
mony and happiness is to be promoted by having me as your 
minister, that I have concluded to accept your call. I have 
been satisfied, from the disposition you discovered towards me 
after I gave my last answer, and from your recent conduct 
and zeal, tliat you are really and firmly attached to me, and 
that this attachment and affection will be continued so long as 
1 shall be in any degree worthy of them. It is my desire, 
therefore, to come to you in the fulness of the Gospel of peace, 
ardently praying that I may be made an instrument of pro- 
moting your peace and happiness here, and of leading to the 
mansions of peace and joy in Heaven. 

Yet, my Brethren, while I rejoice in the belief that I shall 
be happy and useful among you, I do most sincerely lament 
that 1 have not been so fortunate as to effect a greater degree 
of unanimity than exists in the church and town. It is an 
unpleasant thing for me to settle with you contrary to the 
wishes of any individual in this place. Nevertheless, from the 
acquaintance I have with those opposed to my settlement ; 
from the civility and respect with which I have ever been 
personally treated by them, I am fully satisfied that, although 
they cannot at present regard me with favor as a preacher, 
yet they will ever regard me with that friendship and charity, 
which are due from man to man, and from Christian to Christ- 
ian, and that they will never do any thing designedly to injure 
my character, or my feelings. I believe that I can say from 
the heart, that I feel towards them the love and aflection of a 
Christian ; that they have, and always will have my prayers 
and best wishes, and that I shall at all times be ready to ex- 
tend to them the hand of fellowship, of consolation, and of 
Christian love. 



66 HISTORY OF PRINCETON. 

From your past expressions of kindness and affection I feel 
assured, my Christian Friends, that they will be continued to 
me ; that in all seasons of want, of distress, of affliction, and 
trial, you will be ready to assist, advise, and comfort me ; that 
I shall always have your prayers, that I may be faithful to you 
and myself, and that you will do all in your power to strength- 
en my hands, and encourage my heart. You will, I trust, 
always find me ready to do every thing in your behalf which 
belongs to me as a Christian Minister and a man. Let it 
then be our united prayer to the throne of grace, that, 
should our contemplated union be consummated, it may be 
productive of the happiest consequences both as it regards our 
present and eternal peace, that we may be enabled to walk 
together in the exercise of all the mild peaceful graces of our 
holy religion. Let us be much in prayer to God for light and 
direction. And O may it be our happiness to be mutual 
sources of improvement, peace, and comfort in this life, and of 
joy and rejoicing in the day of the Lord Jesus. 

Samuel Clarke. 

Princeton, April 6th, 1817." 

Our limits do not allow us to transcribe the other two let- 
ters of Mr. Clarke, declining the invitation of the town. We 
give the conclusion of each. Under date of September 30th, 
1816, he writes : — "• In taking my leave of you, permit me to 
express my sincere hope, that the failure of this your first at- 
tempt to obtain a minister will not discourage you from a fur- 
ther trial. It is, and will continue to be, my earnest fervent 
prayer to God, that you may be so fortunate as to obtain a man 
after God's own heart, in whom you may all be united ; who 
shall be infinitely more worthy of being placed over you than 
I am ; who shall preach to you the unsearchable riches of 
Christ, lead you into the knowledge of all truth, and be an 
instument in God's hand of promoting your best interest here, 
and of leading you to happiness hereafter. With a sincere 
v/ish for your union, peace, and welfare in this life, and that 
we may hereafter meet in the peaceful mansions of rest and 
glory in Heaven, I bid you farewell." 

Under date of November 10th, of the same year, Mr. Clarke 
thus concludes : — " In again taking my leave of you I beg 
you to accept my renewed assurance of my sincere attach- 



HISTORY OF PRINCETON. 



&P 



ment and love. I believe I can say from my heart, that I feel 
an affectionate, charitable, and Christian spirit towards all who 
have attended upon my ministrations in this house ; and that 
it will be my fervent earnest prayer to the righteous Disposer 
of all events, that he will unite your hearts and minds ; that 
he will guide you in the choice of a Teacher, w ho shall faith- 
fully conduct you in the way of Salvation ; and that although 
we cannot be united here on earth, both you and 1 may here- 
after meet and be united in the pure and peaceful mansions in 
Heaven, whence is banished all discord and contention, and 
there shall be nothing to alienate and divide us. And now I 
can say with the holy and venerable Apostle, ' Finalhj, 
Brethren, farcicell ; Be perfect ; Be of good comfort ; Be 
of one mind. Live in peace ; and the God of love and peace 
shall he ivith you.' " 

Mr. Clarke's Ordination took place June 18th, 1817. 
The Sermon on this occasion was preached by the Rev. Dr. 
Pierce of Brookline. Thus was consummated the religious 
division in the town, commenced with Dr. Murdock's dismiss- 
ion and which originating undoubtedly in, to some extent, 
differences of sentiment, but which subsequent events have 
shown not to have been insurmountable, yet so heightened by 
a temporary excitement, as at last to render a separation, be- 
tween portions of the church and town, with all its attendant 
evils, the most judicious and desirable course. The minority 
of the church, by their adoption of the covenant recommended 
by the mutual council, were recognised as a church of Christ in 
Princeton. Over these and a majority of the town ^Ir. Clarke 
continued for many years the faithful and esteemed pastor, en- 
joying the unlimited confidence of his friends, without incur- 
ring the displeasure of his opponents. His dismission, which 
is the date of the commencement of the present controversy 
in the town, took place in 1832. The narration of the 
causes and consequences of this, as well as the proceedings 
of those opposed to his settlement, is reserved for another 
chapter. 



68 HISTORY OF PRINCETON. 



CHAPTER Vl. 

Call of a Council by the majority of tho C:hurcli. Organization of a Society. 
Invitation to Mr. Bond. Invitation aiui Settlement of Mr. Pliillips. His Letter. 
History of the Baptist Society. Mr. Clarke's Dismission. First proposal for a 
Union of the Congreirational Societies. Settlement of Mr. Covvles. Dismission. 
Farther measures for a Union. Call of a Council. The Result. Proceedings 
upon it. Mr. Phillips's " Appeal." 

Mr. Clarke's settlement was of course the signal for a 
secession of a majority of the church, and a portion of the 
congregation, from the usual place of worship where his min- 
istrations were had. Previous, however, to this event, and 
as early as April, 1817, the church had called an ex parte 
council to advise them as to their future action. It consist- 
ed of the Rev. Dr. Payson of Rindge, N. H., Rev. Dr. Crane 
of Northbridge, Rev. Dr. Snell of Brookfield, Rev. Joseph 
Gofte of Millbury, and the Rev. Mr. Conant of Paxton, each 
of these clergymen being accompanied by a delegate. The 
council met April 29th, and after giving notice of their pres- 
ence to the minority of the church, proceeded to business. 
After deprecating the result of the former council, as con- 
taining an assumed power ■■' unprecedented in our country, 
and unauthorised by the Gospel ; a power, that threatens the 
liberties, the privileges, the very existence of our churches, 
which are founded upon the pillar of truth, by depriving them 
of their inalienable rights, subverting their confessions of 
faith, and their forms of covenant ;" after commending the 
majority of the church for their '' firm stand in defence of the 
truth once delivered to the saints, so honorable to them as 
professed Christians," they proceed to the following recom- 
mendations : — 

1. " That they give themselves unto prayer for the direction 
and holy keeping of the great Head of the church, that they 
may be guided into the paths of wisdom and Christian pru- 
dence, that they may meekly and patiently endure every 
trial to which, in Providence, they are subjected, as the friends 
of truth, and remain united together in love as the humble fol- 
lowers of the Lord Jesus Christ. 

2. That they take all legal and proper measures to form 
themselves, together with such inhabitants of the town as may 
choose to unite with them into a distinct and separate religious 



HISTORY OF PRINCETON. 69 

society, for the quiet enjoyment of Christian ordinances, and 
the instructions of an evangehcal ministry, cleaving to their 
articles of faith and the holy covenant into which they have 
most solemnly entered, and from which their brethren have so 
unwarrantably departed." 

The Result closes among other things with the following 
judicious advice : — " Walk in the meekness of wisdom towards 
those that are otherwise minded, and convince them by a uni- 
form Christian deportment that conscience, and not prejudice, 
a zeal for the truth, and not an unyielding perverseness, that 
the fear of God and love to our Lord Jesus Christ, and not a 
spirit of discord, have prevented you from a coalescence with 
your Brethren." 

In accordance with this advice of the council, the appro- 
priate measures were taken and a society duly organized. 
Their meetings were for some time held in one of the school- 
houses, until a small house of worship was erected in 1819. 
In 1818 the church voted unanimously to adopt the Presby- 
terian confession of faith and discipline, and became connect- 
ed with the Newbury port Presbytery. This connexion con- 
tinued until 1829, when, on account of their distance from 
the place of meeting and the difficulty of performing the duties 
of a member of this body, it was, at the request of the church, 
dissolved. The society being thus organized, in December, 
1818, invited the Rev. Alvan Bond of Andover, to settle 
with them in the work of the ministry. This invitation Mr. 
Bond declined, alleging as a reason the feeble state of his 
health, and a desire to engage in a foreign mission. He thus 
concludes his letter negativing the call of the church : — " And 
now my dear Brethren and Friends, 1 nmst bid you an affec- 
tionate farewell. Long shall I cherish a tender recollection 
of your kindness and cordiality, and the many interesting 
scenes that I enjoyed during my residence with you. I trust 
that my labors with you will not be in vain. I most sincere- 
ly wish you abundant success and prosperity, and hope that I 
shall still have an interest in your prayers, and share in your 
friendship. Should we meet no more in this vale of tears, 
O ! may we be united at last in a better world, where there 
will be fulness of joys and pleasures forevermore." 

After this call to Mr. Bond, no further attempts were made 
to procure a settled minister until March, 18-20, when it was 
voted unanimously to invite the Rev. Alonzo Phillips, who 



70 HISTORY OF PRINCETON. 

was at that time supplying their pulpit, to become their pas- 
tor. To this invitation Mr. Phillips returned the following 
reply, which I copy, as it stands on the church records, with- 
out address or signature : — 

" The office of the Christian Minister is doubtless the most 
important and the most responsible with which man can be 
invested. He receives his commission from God and is ac- 
countable to him for the manner in which he discharges it. 
His business lies with immortal beings ; its design is to per- 
suade them to become good ; if it fails of this, its design is 
lost, and worse than lost. Obviously, then, he who thinks of 
taking this office upon himself ought not to assume it, till he 
has made it the subject of the most serious contemplation and 
fervent prayer. This remark is applicable to his decision 
concerning the particular part of his Lord's vinyard, in which it 
is his duty to labor. The first, and indeed the only question, 
which ought to govern his decision is — where can I do the 
most good ? In deciding this question, several things must be 
taken into consideration ; such as the ability and willingness 
of a people to give him support, which will enable him to de- 
vote himself wholly to the work peculiar to his office ; the 
part of the world, or particular place in which, at a time like 
the present, he is most needed ; his ability to sustain the labors 
and perform the duties which will devolve upon him in a par- 
ticular place ; the feelings and unanimity of the people, who 
invite him to settle with them. These considerations I have 
endeavored to examine with impartiality in forming the decis- 
ion now to be made public. 

In regard to the first of these, the support, I can only say, 
that on the part of the society there is certainly at present a 
very pleasing willingness ; as to the ability they are the only 
proper judges. Whether the sum proposed be adequate to a 
support, in my case, time must determine ; for on this subject 
I am at present wholly inexperienced. All I wish for is a 
support, which, with prudence and econemy, will enable me 
to live in a manner, which you, Brethren, would call respect- 
able ; which will enable me to unite with my brethren in the 
ministry, in aiding the religious and benevolent plans which 
distinguish the present period of the church. In regard to the 
second thing to be considered — the particular place to which 
duty calls, this is a much more difficult question to decide. 
When I have looked at the smallness of this society, and at 



HISTORY OF PRINCETON. 7| 

their ability to live a while longer without a settled minister, 
I have thought it my duty to go to some other place. But 
when I have contemplated the stand they have taken, and its 
bearings, the everlasting importance of the truths they wish 
to support, the connexion of these truths with vital religion 
and the salvation of men, I cannot doubt. When I look at 
this churcli, consider what it has sustained and how it has 
been blessed, I am fully satisfied, that it is a real branch of 
the kingdom of Christ, and a branch too which is as precious 
to him as any other branch of his kingdom. Why then should 
it not be as precious to his ministers ? Of the next thing to 
be considered — the ability of a man to sustain the labors and 
discharge the duties of a particular place, in the present case 
others are judges ; if they have erred time will rectify tiie mis- 
take. In regard to the last thing to be considered — the feel- 
ings and unanimity of the people — they are all any man could 
wish for to afford him happiness and give him influence. 

With these things before me, what could I do, but resolve 
to engage in the same cause with you — cast my lot with 
yours, to live or die with you ? What could I do but answer 
your invitation in the affirmative ? With these things before 
me, I do answer in the affimative. May the Head of the 
church approve the answer, and to his name be glory forever, 
Amen." 

Mr. Phillips was ordained June 7th, 1820. The sermon 
on this occasion was preached by the Rev. Leonard Woods, 
D. D. of Andover. The charge was given by the Rev, Dr. 
Dana, and the right hand of fellowship, by the Rev. Mr. 
Bond. From this period the society continued gradually to 
increase. Mr. Phillips remained for many years its minister, 
enjoying the unlimited confidence of the people of his charge 
nearly to the time of his dismission. How far it then became 
impaired, and for how good reasons, must appear in the 
sequel. 

We have now sketched, somewhat in detail, the history of 
the religious divisions consequent upon Mr. Clarke's settle- 
ment. This was not only necessary, as they make an impor- 
tant, though melancholy part of the history of the town, but 
absolutely essential to a proper understanding of the present 
controversy, while it is extremely questionable whether a con- 
test so apparently groundless, I had almost said senseless, can 
even then be made intelligible to an unprejudiced observer. 



12 HISTORY OP PRINCETON. 

The town was now divided into two distinct societies, each en- 
joying the privilege of a minister of their choice. That under 
Mr. Clarke was indeed in fellowship with the Unitarian socie- 
ties of the vicinity, although much more rigid in their views 
and covenant than most of that sect. The exchanges of Mr. 
Clarke were at times with Orthodox clergymen. That under 
Mr. Phillips, as before stated, adopted and maintained, until 
1829, the confession and discipline of the Presbyterian church 
of the United States. The present contest grew out of a re- 
cent attempt, with few exceptions successful, to unite these 
two societies, between whom no dift'erence of religious senti- 
ment now exists. The two societies, therefore, have, for the 
last four years, presented the extraordinary spectacle of a re- 
ligious community, perfectly agreeing in their articles of faith, 
and, when united, making but a tolerable society as to num- 
bers, all admitting a union to be necessary and desirable, and 
yet contending with no ordinary bitterness as to the manner 
of effecting this, reminding one of the contest sometimes 
witnessed between two small schoolboys, at the junction of 
two roads leading to the same spot, as to which is the 
proper one for their journey, when each, with embittered feel- 
ings, perhaps bloody face, has at last taken that which he 
originally knew to be straightest and best. Which party have 
in this case been the combatants for the crooked and hilly 
way we leave facts to decide. 

Before, however, I proceed to the detail of this controversy, 
it is necessary to record another division which, without its 
usual unpleasant attendants, arose in the town. This was 
the formation of the Baptist society. As early as 1770, 1 
find a Mr. Aaron Perry, who formerly lived on the farm now 
owned by John P. Rice, Esq. was " left out of the minister 
rates," by vote of the town, " on account of being of the 
Baptist persuasion." In one of the warrants for a town 
meeting in 1776, I find the following article: — "To see if 
the Town will abate all, or any of the Ministereal Rates of 
Those persons That are of The Baptist persuasion." On 
this article the town voted " To abate the Ministerial Rates 
of Stephen Rolph, Sadcy Mason, and Aaron Perry." This 
favor was, however, refused for several subsequent years by 
the town, who seem not to have been very scru])ulously con- 
siderate of the rights of religious toleration. These three 
individuals were probably for many years the only Baptists in 



HISTORY OF PRINCETON. "IS 

town. They were connected with the Baptist church at 
Templeton, at that time, I beUeve, the only one in the vicin- 
ity. Baptist preaching was had in town probably three or 
four times a year, at the house of Mr. Perry. Some sixty 
years since, Joshua Everett, father of the present Messrs. 
William and Joshua Everett, removed from Westminster to 
Princeton, and was a supporter of the peculiar sentiments of 
the Baptists, although not a professor until some years subse- 
quent, when he connected himself with the above mentioned 
church at Templeton. About the same time some two or 
three more of the inhabitants embraced the same sentiments, 
and were united to the same church. Preaching was still 
occasionally had in the town. The infrequency of this was 
partly owing to the then difficulty of obtaining Baptist preach- 
ers, but mainly to an inabihty to support them. About the 
year 1805, the Rev. Elisha Andrews commenced preaching to 
the Baptists in Princeton, at the residence of William Ever- 
ett, usually spending with them eight or ten Sabbaths in 
each year. Mr. Andrews may in fact be regarded almost in 
the light of a father to the Baptists of the vicinity. Possessed 
of a strong judgement and a quick discernment, with an un- 
bounded fund of anecdote, his conversational powers ren- 
dered him a no less agreeable and fascinating companion 
at the fire-side, than his deep and fervent piety an exemplary 
and influential preacher. He was and is one of the best refu- 
tations of what has been unjustly charged upon vital piety — 
a supposed tendency to render men gloomy and misanthropic. 
Mr. Andrews continued his labors until 1819. During this 
period several additions were made to the church, and towards 
the close of it their relation was removed from that in Tem- 
pleton to a branch church in Holden. In 1819 the Rev. 
John Walker of Holden, was engaged to preach to them one 
fourth of the time, and continued his labor for three years. 
During his ministry, there was an interesting revival, in which 
some fifteen became connected with the church in Holden. 
Their meetings, at this time, were held usually at the " north 
school-house." In 1822 they were regularly dismissed from 
the church in Holden, and on the 31st of July, of that year, 
were duly organized as a church of Christ in Princeton. In 
1823 Mr. Walker confined his labors exclusively to the 
church in Holden, and the Rev. Mr. Andrews was again em- 
10 



74 HISTORY OF PRINCETON. 

ployed one half of the time at Princeton. He continued with 
them nearly two years, when the society were again depend- 
ent upon temporary engagements for a supply of their pulpit, 
'until 18^G, when the Rev. Elias Johnson became their min- 
ister, preaching alternate Sabbaths in Princeton and West- 
minster. Mr. Johnson continued pastor of the church until 
1830. During his ministry there was another revival, in 
which some twenty-five were added to the church. In Sep- 
tember, 1830, the Rev. Appleton Morse received and ac- 
cepted a call from the society to become their minister, and 
was ordained in the October following. Mr. Morse, like his 
predecessor, divided his labors between Westminster and 
Princeton, until the spring of 1831, when they were confined 
exclusively to the church in the latter place. The church 
now, for the first time, enjoyed the constant undivided labors 
of a settled pastor. During Mr. Morse's ministry, which con- 
tinued two years, twenty-five or thirty were added to the 
church. He was dismissed at his request in April, 1832. 
From the date of this event the church were destitute of a 
settled minister for more than two years, although their desk 
was usually supplied from temporary sources. In 1834, the 
Rev. Nehemiah G. Lovell of Newton, received and accepted 
the call of the church and society to become their pastor, and 
was ordained on the 10th of July of the same year. He con- 
tinued their minister until November. 1836, when he was 
dismissed, and became pastor of the Baptist church in Am- 
herst. Immediately on the dismissal of Mr. Lovell, the Rev. 
Mason Ball commenced preaching to the society, and soon 
after received and accepted a unanimous call to become their 
minister, and entered immediately on the duties of his station. 
Mr. Ball is the present minister. The church now numbers 
eighty-five members, and there have been three branch 
churches connected with it, which are now each organized as 
distinct churches — one in Westminster, one in Fitchburg, and 
one in Ijcominstcr. 

Baptist worship in Princeton was held in private dwellings, 
or in school-houses, until 1828, when the present house was 
erected, at an expense of ,^'-2,000. It is a neat, plain brick 
edifice, of moderate size, without bell or spire, but adapted to 
the convenience of the society. Its situation is unfortunate, 
being; about a mile north of the centre of the town. Its loca- 



HISTORY OK PRINCETON. 75 

tion will probably ere lon^ be changed lo accord with the 
wishes of a large portion of the society.* 

I now resume the history of the present controversy in the 
congregational church — a controversy unnecessary, unholy, 
and one which, sundering the ties of Christian fellowship, and 
mingling the cultivation of the peaceful religion of Jesus, in 
sacrilegious union with the most unhallowed feelings, passions, 
and prejudices, has tarnished the purity of the church, and in 
thus destroying its proper influence in the promotion of piety, 
has left a fearful responsibility resting on those who have been 
and are active in spreading the spirit of discord, and who, in 
the revival of feelings forgotten, or wrongs atoned for, are busy 
in exciting jealousies and animosities, which must invariably di- 
vide, weaken, perhaps destroy, all active exertion among those, 
no small share of whose usefulness depends on their harmony. 
Let men, with the full consciousness of this responsibility then, 
pause, reflect, and before further action or opposition, be cer- 
tain that they are not mistaking the dictates of passion for the 
voice of wisdom, the promptings of wilfulness for the admoni- 
tions of conscience, or the unhallowed decisions of prejudice 
and obstinacy for the inspiring and uncompromising impulses 
of religion. One thing is certain, the cause of Christ is injur- 
ed by this event. On some one rests the responsibility. To 
every participator in the controversy, therefore, comes home 
the fearfully meaning question of the trembling disciples, 
Lord, is it II His conscience must answer. 

In May, 1832, owing to ill health, the Rev. Mr. Clarke 
asked and received from his society a dissolution of his minis- 
rial relation. At this time it is unquestionably true, that a 
large portion of his church, although satisfied to remain under 
his ministry, were orthodox in sentiment, and in the event of 
his dismissal would and did prefer the settlement of a Calvin- 
istic pastor. To the society this very question was submitted, 
and a vote that the pulpit be supplied by orthodox clergymen 
passed by a considerable majority. In the existence of this 
state of feeling, as an orthodox society already existed in town, 
it was thought advisable, instead of settling another minister of 
the same sentiments, if possible, to unite on just and Christian 



* For most oftho facta in this account of the Baptist society, I an indebt- 
ed to the kindness of Dea. J. T. Everott, lo wlioni I take thia opportunity 
to return my thanks. 



76 HISTORY OF PRINCETON. 

terms with the church and society ah-eady existing, since one 
house of worship could easily accommodate, and one clergy- 
man discharge, all the parochial duties in the event of a union. 
With these feelings, and with a view to such an event, the 
congregational society, at their meeting for the dismissal of Mr. 
Clarke, held May 21st, 1S32, passed the following vote : — 

" On motion, voted, that the committee appointed to supply 
the pulpit he authorized and instructed to wait on the standing 
or prudential committee of the evangelical orthodox* society, 
and request the committee of that society to call a meet- 
ing of said society, as soon as m.ay be, to ascertain whether 
the said society feel disposed to unite with the congregational 
society in settling a minister, and if so, to choose a committee 
consisting of an equal number chosen by the congregational 
society, to co-operate with them in inviting a candidate to 
preach to both societies, or take such other measures as said 
committee and the committee of said evangelical orthodox so- 
ciety may deem expedient to efiect a union of said societies." 

This vote being communicated to the evangelical congrega- 
tional society, led to the following action : — 

" At a meeting of the evangelical congregational society, 
held at their meeting-house, holden on Monday, the 14th day 
of June inst. to take into consideration the request of the con- 
gregational society, by their committee, to see if the evan- 
gelical congregational society will unite with that society in 
settling a minister over both societies, after due deliberation, 
passed the following vote, to wit : — 

On motion, voted, that we cannot comply with said request 
for two reasons ; first, we have a minister whom we respect, 
and under whose ministry we are united and happy. 

Second, we do not feel authorized to act on the subject as 
proposed, because we feel that it is proper and right that the 
church should have the first move in all measures preparatory 
to tlie settlement of a pastor." 

The door being thus efiectually closed against all further 
measures towards a union, the congregational church proceed- 
ed to the appropriate measures for the settlement of an ortho- 
dox minister, and, on the third of April, 1833, invited the 

* The word " orthodox" should have been written " congregiitional." 
The mistake arose in copying from some of the certificates of that society, 
filed in the Clerk's office, in which their prudential committee made the 
mistake. 



HISTORY OF PRINCETON. 77 

Rev. John P. Cowles, who liad then just completed his theo- 
logical studies at Yale College, to become their pastor.* Mr. 
Cowles having accepted this invitation was ordained on the 
19th of July. The services on this occasion were as fol- 
lows : — The introductory prayer by the Rev. Hubbard Wins- 
low, Boston ; the ordaining prayer by the Rev. Dr. Murdock, 
New-Haven ; the charge by the Rev. Mr. Mann, Westmin- 
ster ; the rigiit hand of fellowship by the Rev. A. E. Phelps, 
Boston ; the address to the church and people by Rev. ]\lr. 
Clarke, Rutland ; and the concluding prayer by the Rev. Mr- 
Allen of Shrewsbury. The sermon was preached by the 
Rev. Mr. Linsley, of Park-street church, Boston. 

Previous to Mr. Cowles's settlement, the church had sub- 
stituted the Covenant and Confession in use by the original 
church, while under the ministry of Mr. Russell, for that in- 
troduced by Mr. Clarke. By this avowal of their sentiments, 
and the recognition of the council, they were admitted to 
Christian fellowship as an evangelical church — a fact to be 
kept in view from its bearing on subsequent events. 

Mr. Cowles continued pastor of the church until October, 
1834, when he asked and received a dismission. This was 
thought a favorable opening for a renewal of the proposals for 
a union. The advice of the council, convened for tlie dis- 
mission of Mr. Cowles, relative to such proposals, was ac- 
cordingly asked. Their reply will be learned from the fol- 
lowing communication, made to the evangelical congregational 
church, and which is the recommencement of the efforts for a 
union. This communication led to the appointment of the 
appropriate committees, and the call of the council proposed. 
The result of the council appears in connexion with the com- 



* The fact of Mr. Cowles's settlement and ministry, for a year or more, 
as also that of his church being in fellowship witli those of evangelical sen- 
timents in the neighborhood, or in other words the recognition of the con- 
gregational as an orthodox church in regular standing, the Rev. Mr. Phil- 
lips does not mention in his " Appeal," professing to be an impartial 
account of the religious difficulties in this place. Nor is he less silent as 
to the fact of the adoption of a new covenant and confession of faith by the 
church at Mr. Cowles's settlement. He labors throughout his pamplilet to 
convey the impression, that the design of the friends of union, as well as 
the councils convened, was to embody witli an orthodox church, one of de- 
cidedly unitarian sentiments, fresh from a unitarian pastor. Whereas the 
fact was, there were in Princeton, when the successful measures for a 
union were put in train, a.- we shall presently see, two orthodox churches, iii 
regular standing, which it was proposed to unite in one. 



78 HISTORY OF PRINCETON. 

miinication, both of which were printed and circulated at the 
lime of their date. 

To the Evangelical Congregational Church in Princeton, under the pas- 
toral care of the Rev. Mr. Phillips : 

Rev. and Beloved, — The undersigned, having been appointed a Commit- 
tee by the Congregational Church, for the purpose of making a communica- 
tion to your Church, would respectfully lay before you the doings of the 
said Congregational Church, and the advice of an Ecclesiastical Council, 
lately convened in this place. 

At a meeting of the Congregational Church, Oct. 2G, 1834, a Committee 
was appointed to ask the advice of the Ecclesiastical Council, which was 
then to be convened on the 2Sth of said month, for the dismission of Rev. 
John P. Cowles, in relation to what course it was the duty of said Church 
to pursue, and what measures to adopt, under the existing circumstances of 
the religious affairs of this place. 

The said Committee attended to the duty of their appointment, and re- 
ceived from said Council the following result : 

" The advice of this Council having been asked by the Congregational 
Churcli in regard to the course tiiey should take provided Mr. Cowles be 
dismissed, the Council advise to the following measure : That said Church 
propose to the Evangelical Congregational Church to unite in choosing a 
Mutual Orthodox Council to settle the following points — 

1st. Shall a union be effected between the two Churches ? 
And if so — 

2d. On what ground shall such union be effected ? " 

SAMUEL GAY, Moderator. 
CYRUS MANN, Scribe. 

At a meeting of the Church, Oct. 20th, the foregoing result and advice of 
Council was laid before the said Church, and accepted; and Deacon Charles 
Russell and Caleb Dana, and Brother Charles B. Temple, were appointed a 
Committee to present to the Evangelical Church a copy of the advice of 
said Council, and to adopt measures to carry the same into effect. 

Agreeably to the advice of said Council, and in full accordance with our 
own views "and feelings, we do now, in behalf of the Congregational Church, 
propose to unite with your Church in inviting a Mutual Orthodox Council 
for the purposes mentioned in the result of said Council. 

In making this request, we wish to add, that we, in common, doubtless, 
with you, regard it as exceedingly desirable, for the interests of religion in 
this place, that all those in these two Churches, who coincide in llieir views 
of the doctrines and duties of the Gospel, and give credible evidence of their 
beino- the children of God, should be united in one Church, and under one 
pastor. We do not regard a union as desirable except on such conditions, 
and on such grounds, as shall ensure to you and to us a prospect of purity, 
as well as peace and harmony. Under such conditions we do desire it, for 
the sake of^that cause which we ecpaally profess to love. We deeplj' lament 
the division which has long existed in this town, and our prayer to God is, 
that it may soon be terminated in that way, and in that way only which 
will be for his glory and for tho spiritual benefit of his clujsen people. And 
that this desirable end may be effected, we desire, on our jKirl, to remove 
every reasonable objection. We propose to unite with }ou in calling a 
Mutual Council, because we do believe that there are questions, arising 
out of the character and relations of these Churches, which affect so vitally 
the best interests of the people of this place, as well as the Church of 
Christ, that neither of these Churches is at liberty to disregard them. 

Should your (Church accede to this proposition and request, we trust there 
would be no disagreement in selecting a Mutual Council, of approved or- 



HISTORY OF PRINCETON. 70 

thodox Ministers in this Commonwealth, which would be entirely satisfac- 
tory to both Churciies. We wish to he distinctly understood that wc arc icill- 
insr to submit the ichole case, in all its parts, to the decision of such a 
Council* 

And now, Christian Brethren, v/e respectfully ask you to give this sub- 
ject, as we trust you will, your serious and prayerful consideration. And 
may the great Head of the Church vouchsafe to you, and to us, his grace, 
guidance and direction, and lead us in the path of duty — to the exercise of 
those Christian feelings and to the adoption of such measures, as shall 
redound to his glory and the spiritual and everlasting good of his 
people. 

Yours, with Christian affection, 

CHARLES RUSSELL, ) 
CAl-EB DANA, \ Committee. 

CHARLES B. TEMPLE, ) 
Princeton, J\'ov. 14, 1834. 

The foregoing is a copy of a communication from the Church lately under 
the pastoral care of the Rev. Mr. Cowles, to the Church under the pastoral 
care of the Rev. Mr. Phillips. 

MINUTES OF COUNCIL. 

In accordance with letters missive from the Congregational Church in 
Princeton, lately under the pastoral care of Rev. Mr. Cowles, and the 
Church in the same place under the pastoral care of Rev. Mr. Phillips, an 
Ecclesiastical Council was convened at the house of John Brooks, Esq. 
Dec. 17, 1834. 

Were present from the Church of Christ in North Brookfield, Rev. The. 
Snell, P., Dea. Jos. A. Moore, Del. 

From the Congregational Church in Templeton, Rev. Samuel P. Bates, 
P., Br. Jon. Cutting, Del. 

From the Congregational Church in Westminster, Rev. Cyrus Mann, P., 
Dea. Benj. Wood, Del. 

From the Congregational Church in Harvard, Rev. George Fisher, P., 
Dea. Rich. Whitney, Del. 

From the Congregational Church in Bolton, Rev. John W. Chickering, 
P., Dea. Augustine Holcomb, Del. 

* Compare the passage in italics, with the following from the Rev. Mr. 
Phillips's " Appeal." " Wherever the fault may have been, the original 
church and their pastor were both led to suppose, that the congregational 
church had concluded to allow the union to be formed under the ministry 
of the present pastor," when probably most of "the circumstances which" 
in Mr. Phillips's view, " concurred to hinder the success of the result," 
would have vanished. We say with Mr. Phillips, " wiierever the fault may 
have been" from which this impression arose, if any one entertained it ex- 
cept himself, it was not the fault of the communication. One of the jjrop- 
ositions which the communication of the congregational church ])roposed 
to submit to the Council was, " On what ground shall such union be effect- 
ed." Mr. Phillips seems to have read it, '• On what ground shall such 
union be effected, without dismissing the present pastor." Mr. Phillips 
himself first introduced to the council the matter of his dismission by the 
repeated instruction to thern, that "they were not to touch his case." 
" JVoi cren if the cause of Christ requires it," was the keen and silencing re- 
buke of the Rev. Moderator. I am the apologist or defender of neither 
party to the controversy, yet truth seemed to demand the correction of this 
error in the " Appeal." 



80 HISTORY OF PRINCETON. 

From the Calvinist Cliurch in Worcester. Rev. John S. C. Abbott, P., Br. 
Jonas B. Allen, Del. 

From the Church of Christ in Ilolden, Rev. Win. P. Paine, P. 

The Council was organized by choosing- Rev. Dr. Snell, Moderator, and 
Rev. John S. C. Abbott, Scribe. 

The deliberations of the Council were introduced by prayer by the Mod- 
erator. 

Charles Russell, Esq. Caleb Dana, and Charles B. Temple appeared as 
a Committee of the Church under the late care of the Rev. Mr. Covvles. 

Rev. Mr. Phillips, Samuel Stratton, Israel Howe and Ephraim Beaman 
appeared as a Committee of tlie Church under the pastoral care of Rev. Mr. 
Phillips. 

Rev. Mr. Phillips, in behalf of the Committee from the Church of which 
he is pastor, stated their views and feelings respecting the object for which 
the Council was convened, and the desirableness of a union of the 
Churches. 

Charles Russell, Esq. in behalf of the Committee from the Congrega- 
tional Church, then made a statement of their views and wishes with regard 
to the proposed union, and of the eiforts they had made for its accomplish- 
ment. 

Other members of both Committees also made communications to the 
Council. 

The Committees then retired, and the Rev. Mr. Mnnn, in behalf of the 
Council, sought divine guidance to aid in our deliberations. 

Several hours were then passed, in discussing the subject in all its varied 
aspects. 

Messrs. Abbott, Snell and Chickering were appointed a Committee to re- 
port upon the result of Council. 

Adjourned to meet at seven o'clock, to-morrow morning. 

Thursday Morning, Dec. 18, 1834. 

Council met according to adjournment. More information being desired, 
to aid in coming to some useful result, the Committee from the Church 
under the late care of the Rev. Mr. Cowles, again appeared and made fur- 
ther statements. 

Rev. Mr. Phillips also appeared and communicated additional information 
respecting the views of the Church and Society with which he is con- 
nected. 

The Conunittee appointed to report a result of Council, reported the fol- 
lowing, which was unanimously adopted. 



RESULT OF COUNCIL. 

The Council deems the union of the two Churches e.xceedingly desirable 
both as it regards the peace of the town and the prosperity of Religion. 
The Council is also very much gratified with the truly Christian spirit, 
manifested in the comrrmnication made by the Commiltee of the Church 
lately under the care of the Rev. Mr. Cowles, and with their candor and 
moderation; and have full confidence in the purity of the motives which 
led them to make an effort for a reconciliation. Animated by these feelings, 
we sincerely hope that the suggestions wliich may be made by the Council, 
and the terms proposed, will be acceptable to both parties and [)romotive of 
their mutual edification. The council are aware of difficulties in the way, 
but do not feel that they are insurmountable. Christians are often called 
upon to make sacrifices, but if they are sacrifices of feeling, and not of prin- 
ciple, they ought to be made. 

The Council is of opinion that the whole subject is involved in two 
questions. 



HISTORY OF PRINCETON. SI 

1. The first question respects the possibility of a union of the two Church- 
es which shall promote the cause of truth, purity and peace. 

The Council is of opinion that the ortliodox portion of the Church lately 
under the pastoral care of Rev. Mr. Cowles, and of the Church under the 
pastoral care of Rev. Mr. Phillips, may become one united and happy 
Churcii. And the plan of union the Council would recommend is this, viz: 
that the Rev. Messrs. Bates of 'I'empleton, Mann of Westminster, and 
Paine of Ilolden, be a Committee to satisfy themselves, at a proper time and 
when duly notified, of the personal piety of such members of the first named 
Church, as desire the union, and recommend them to the other Church by 
letter; and that by virtue of this letter of recommendation, they become 
embodied with the Church now under the pastoral care of Rev. Mr. 
Phillips. 

2. The second question has su^ijested itself to our minds in a form like 
the following : Is there a sufficient degree of harmony in the views of these 
two parishes, to authorize the hope that they may unite in listening to, and 
BUfjporting, sound evangelical ministrations ? 

This question we hope we are not mistaken in answering likewise in the 
affirmative. As to the mode of union, we would recommend that the So- 
ciety connected with Mr. Phillips's Church should unite with the other, and 
in one united Church and Society, sustain and enjoy the ordinances and 
privileges of the Gospel. 

3. The third and only remaining question respects the pastoral and min- 
isterial relations of the proposed united Church and Society. The only 
difficulty on this point, arises from the fact, that the two Churches and 
Societies, as they now exist, are not on equal ground in this respect. The 
one have a pastor whom they respect and love, who has been with them in 
times of an.xiety and trial, and between whom and themselves there exist 
ties of too sacred and tender a nature to be sundered, except by the volun- 
tary motion and action of the parties concerned. The other has no pastor, 
nor has it, from the nature of tJie case, that attachment to the pastor of the 
other Church which would doubtless have existed, had he been for as many 
years their pastor. To the removal of this difficulty this Council are con- 
strained to feel themselves inadequate, since they cannot control the affec- 
tions of the one body, nor, unrequested and unauthorized, touch the pas- 
toral relations of the other. We are not prepared, on the one hand, to say 
that all the prejudices and preferences can or should be given up by Mr. 
Cowles's late people ; nor, on the other hand, require either the Rev. Mr. 
Phillips or his Church to make a sacrifice of the duty and expediency of 
which they must be the judges. However, then, in view of all tiie facts, 
which have come to our knowledge, our private opinion respecting duty 
and expediency in this matter, may differ from that of Rev. Mr. Phillips's 
Church, as expressed by him as the organ of their Committee, we feel oblig- 
ed to leave the matter to the consideration and decision of themselves and 
their pastor. 

This Council cannot refrain from expressing our belief, from what we 
have witnessed, that there is, in all the parties concerned, a sufficient desire 
for union — a sutHcient sense of the importance of the best economy of min- 
isterial labor, in these days of destitution, and sufficient readiness to make 
any needful sacrifices for the sake of Christ and his cause, to render such a 
disposition as hjs now been made of this whole subject, the best we could 
make, even if it were not, as we think it is, the only one in our power. 

This Council cannot refrain from pressing it upon the minds of all Christ- 
ians, in both Churches, that for the sake of union on the ground of Gospel 
truth, and for the advancement of the cause of Christ, it is their incumbent 
duty, while they contend earnestly for the faith once delivered to the sainis, 
to make great sacrifices of personal feeling and private interest. 

We do most earnestly and affectionately entreat the members of both 
Churches to love as brethren. We cannot doubt that the cause of Christ is 
11 



82 HISTORY OF PRINCETON. 

equally dear to both Churches, and we do believe that if the spirit of con- 
ciliation and kindness, which has been manifested during the session of the 
Council, is continued, the troubled waters will grow more and more calm, 
till all is tranquility and peace. We hope, beloved brethren, that you will 
endeavour to cherish a childlike, a lowly and a contented spirit, and if 
things are not in all respects as many of you could wish, wait quietly till He 
who orders all things wisely shall bring all things right. 

The Council beg leave to assure the members of both Churches of their 
kind feelings and Christian regards. We have found ourselves called to 
settle questions of the utmost difficulty and delicacy. Circumstances of past 
occurrence, cause us to feel a deep sympathy with the members of the church 
under the pastoral care of Rev. Mr. Phillips. Circumstances of a more re- 
cent date constrain us to look with much interest and affection upon the 
members of the Church under the late care of Rev. Mr. Cowles. But we 
beg them both to be assured, that we have earnestly sought guidance from 
above, that we might come to such a result, as would be mutually accepta- 
ble, and promote the social and spiritual happiness of all the friends of the 
Saviour in this place. 

THOMAS SNELL, Moderator. 

JOHN S. C. ABBOTT, Scribe. 

After this result was made known, previous to any vote 
upon it, the Rev. Mr. Phillips's church requested the appoint- 
ment of a committee of seven from the congregational church, 
to meet an equal committee on their part, for an interchange 
of views. These committees were appointed, and an inter- 
view, satisfactory to both parties, took place, after which each 
church passed the following votes, adopting the result : — 

To the clerk of the church lately under the pastoral care of the Rev. J. P. 
Cowles : 

The following is a copy of a note passed by our church, at a regular 
meeting, Feb. 5, 1835. 

Feb. 5. The church met agreeably to appointment ; after hearing the 
report of the committee which seemed favorable, voted to accede to the 
first part of "the result," viz. that which relates to the union of the ortho- 
dox members of the other congregational church with this. 

A true copy. Attest, 

A. PHILLIPS. 

N. B. The reason why this notice was not given at the time is, it entirely 
escaped the recollection of the clerk. A. P. 

February 28, 1835. The Church of Christ, under the late pastoral care of 
the Rev. John P. Cowles, held a meeting at the hall of Dea. Charles Rus- 
sell, Feb. 28, to consider and act on the result of the Mutual Ecclesiastical 
Council, lately convened in this place. The meeting was opened by the 
moderator, Dea. Charles Russell, who led the church in an address to the 
throne of Divine grace, for light and direction in the important business be- 
fore them. 

The church then proceeded to a consideration of the subject before them, 
and after a full and harmonious interchange of feelings — 

Voted, unanimously. To accept the Result of said Council. 

Voted, That the Clerk of the Church be directed to transmit a copy of 



HISTORY OF PRINCETON. 83 

the doings of this meeting to the Church under the pastoral care of the 
Rev. Mr. Phillips. U. DANA, Clerk. 

Copy from the records. Attest, 

C. DANA, Za«e Clerk of said Church. 

Soon after these votes of the respective churches, the 
subject came before the societies, and led to the following 
votes : — 

Voted, unanimously, That we accept of the Result of the Mutual Eccle- 
siastical Council lately convened at this place, by the request of the church 
under tlie late pastoral care of the Rev. Mr. Cowles, and of the church 
under the pastoral care of the Rev. Mr. Phillips, and that we can cheerfully, 
and do most heartily respond the sentiment expressed in the result of said 
council, tliat there is a sufficient dejrree of harmony in the views of this, 
and the Evangelical society, to authorise tlie belief lliat Ihey may unite in 
listening to, and supporting sound Etanijelical ministrations. 

Voted, unanimously, Tiiat this society invite, and we do hereby affection- 
ately and respectfully invite the said Evangelical society to unite with us, 
agreeably to the recommendation contained in the result of said council. 

Voted, unanimously, That we are, and have been, for a considerable lime 
past, desirous of a union with the Evangelical society, and that we highly 
approve of the course taken by the church connected with us, and of the 
measures they have adopted, to effect a union of the two churches. 

Voted, unanimously, That a union of the two societies appears to us to 
be very desirable, and would tend, as icejuUy believe, to promote the peace, 
Christian liarmony, and spiritual welfare of the people in this place ; and 
we can see no reason wiiy the division which has for a long time unhappily 
existed here should be longer continued, or why we should transmit such a 
state of things to posterity. 

Voted, unanimously, Tliat should a union take place, we sincerely desire 
that it may be e.xtensive, permanent, and lasting ; that it may be such an 
one as shall promote the social and spiritual happiness of both societies; 
and that in our endeavor to effect a union, we disclaim having any other 
motive than that of advancing the Redeemer's kingdom, and promoting the 
best interests of the people in this town. Our cause, we firmly believe, is a 
righteous cause ; one for which we may invoke the blessing of Heaven, and 
•one on which we humbly trust the smiles and blessing of God will rest. 

Voted, unanimously, That we believe there is no relation more sacred and 
important than that which exists between a minister and his peo[)le — the 
peaceful and useful continuance of which depends on the mutual affection 
consisting between ttiem ; therefere.we cannot refrain from expressing our 
serious and solemn conviction, that a union under the Rev. Mr. Phillips 
would not be such an one as would be the best calculated to promote the 
happiness, the harmony, and the highest interest of the united society, — 
inasmuch as we believe there is a want of that cordiality of feeling both in 
him and in us, which it is so desirable should exist between a minister and 
people — and the attitude in which he has stood to us has bee.a such, as to 
render it impossible, in our view, for him to associate with a portion of the 
united people, with that freedom and cordiality, which are so absolutely 
necessary, in order that a people may derive from their minister, and he 
communicate to them, that religious instruction which is so important for 
their highest good. 

Voted, unanimously, That we are aware that there is, as there always 
should be between a minister and his people, a mutual attachment existing 
between Mr. Phillips and the people under his pastoral care— and we have 
no desire to do anything to weaken or destroy this attachment — still we 
cannot refrain from expressing it as our opinion, that should duty dictate to 



84 HISTORY OF PRINCETON. 

the Rev. Mr. Phillips to leave the field, as we cannot but believe under the 
guidance of Divine Providence it may, the harvest would be much greater 
under some other person than it possibly can or would be under his minis- 
trations. 

Voted, unanimously, That if the Rev. Mr. Phillips should determine to 
ask his dismission i'rom his jjastoral charge, we will contribute our share of 
any reasonable sum which shall be thought just and right, as an indemnity 
for any loss he may sustain in consequence of such dismission. 

Voted, unanimously. That we hope and confidently believe that after 
viewing and deliberating upon all the circumstances connected with a union, 
that neither the Rev. Mr. Phillips, nor his people, will insist upon his being 
the minister of the united church and society. 

True copy from the records of a parish meeting, held March 4, 1835. 
Attest, JOS. A. REED, Cleric. 

At a legal meeting of the Evangelical Congregational Society in Prince- 
ton, convened in their meeting-house, on Monday, the 23d day of March, 
A. D. 183-5, the following votes were passed, viz : — 

Voted, That we accept of the result of the Mutual Ecclesiastical Coun- 
cil, lately convened in this place, by the request of the church under the 
late pastoral care of the Rev. Mr. Cowles, and of the church under the 
care of the Rev. Alonzo Phillips, relative to the union of the said societies. 

Voted, That the clerk of said Evangelical C-ongregational Society trans- 
mit to the first parish in Princeton an attested copy of the doings of said 
society. 

A true copy of record of said parish meeting. 

Attest, ERASMUS D. GOODNOW, Clerk. 

About this time a majority of the above mentioned com- 
mittee, which had been chosen for an interchange of views 
previous to the adoption of the result of council, waited upon 
their pastor, Mr. Phillips, and requested him to ask a dismiss- 
ion, since the well known feelings of the congregational soci- 
ety, subsequently expressed in the above vote, made it evident 
a union could not take place under his ministry. With this 
request he declined complying ; with how good reasons we are 
unable to say. He certainly, at this time, stood in the way 
of a consummation of the intentions of the council. How 
far this consummation was desirable, or how strong an argu- 
ment it presented for a dissolution of Mr. Phillips's pastoral 
relations, \ye leave to the judgement of others. To us it 
seems a point not difficult to decide. And so it seems to 
have presented itself to the council, who, "unauthorised and 
unrequested," were unable to advise, but whose "•' private 
opinion, respecting duty and expediency in this matter," 
differed essentially " from that of Rev. Mr. Phillips's church, 
as expressed by him as the organ of their committee.''^ But 
whatever may be our views of this question, no one can 
hesitate to pronounce the proposal of the congregational soci- 
ety to indemnify Mr. Phillips, the pastor of another .society, 



HISTORY OF PRINCETON. 85 

for any necessary loss he miglit sustain from a dismission, as 
extremely liberal, and evincing a sincere desire for a union. 

As both' churches and societies had now adopted the result 
of council, nothing farther seemed necessary for a consumma- 
tion of the union, than a compliance, on the part of the con- 
gregational church, with the first recommendation of said 
council. For the purpose, therefore, of carrying this into 
effect, the church met and passed the following vote, which 
is inserted from a preference to narrate the history of " this 
vexed question" from attested documents, rather than any as- 
sertions founded upon them. 

April 27, 1835. The brethren of the church (under the late pastoral care 
of Rev. Mr. Cowles) met agreeably to adjournment at the meetine-house. 
The meeting was opened with prayer by the Clerk. Then, Voted, that Dr. 
Alphonso Brooks be a committee to call on the Rev. Mr. Phillips for acopjr 
of the doings of the church under his pastoral care in relation to the result 
of the Mutual Ecclesiastical Council, lately convened in this place.* 

The business in relation " to the union" was then taken up, whereupon. 
Voted, unanimously, to carry into effect the result of council ; and Dea. 
Charles Russell and Caleb Dana, and Br. Charles B. Temple, were appoint- 
ed a committee to call a meeting of the church, when they may deem it ex- 
pedient, and to invite the committee, consisting of the Rev. Messrs. Bates 
of Ternpleton, Mann of Westminster, and Paine of Holden, to be present at 
the said meeting of the church, to discharge the important duties assigned 
them in the result of said council. 

CALEB DANA, Clerk. 
Copy from the Records. Attest, 

CALEB DANA, late Clerk of said Church. 

In accordance with this vote, on the 16th of May, 18-35, 
the committee of clergymen, mentioned in the result of the 
council, met at Princeton, and attended to the duties assign- 
ed them, with what results the annexed document will show. 

May 16, 1835. The brethren and sisters of the church, under the late 
pastoral care of the Rev. Mr. Cowles, met this day at the town-house, at 
half-past ten of the clock A. M. agreeably to notice given by the committee 
of the church appointed for said purpose, to carry into effect the result of 
council, said result having been adopted by the church under the pastoral 
care of tlie Rev. Mr. Phillips. 

The committee, appointed by the council, consisting of the Rev. Messrs. 
Bates of Ternpleton, Mann of Westminster, and Paine of Holden, were then 
present agreeably to the invitation of the church, given by a committee ap- 
pointed for the purpose, to attend to the important duties assigned to them 
in the result of said council. 

The Rev. Mr. Mann addressed the Throne of Grace for light and assist- 
ance on the solemn and interesting occasion. Important remarks were then 
offered by the Rev. gentlemen composing the committee. The articles of 

* This will explain the note to Mr. Phillips's copy of the vote of his 
church, adopting the result of council, page 82. 



86 HISTORY OF PRINCETON. 

faith and covenant of the church, under the pastoral care of the Rev. Mr. 
Phillips, were then read by the Rev. Mr. Mann, and assented to by all the 
brethren and sisters of the church present. 

The Brethren of the church adjourned to the meeting-house; and after 
havinir had an interview with the committee of the council, Voted, to ad- 
journ, to meet at halt-past five of the clock, P. M. at the town-house. 

Ailjournrd meeting. Tlie brethren met at tlie town-house, agreeably to 
adjournment. The meeting was opened with prayer by Br. Charles B. 
Temple. 'J'lie committee of the church, consisting of brothers Russell, 
Dana, and Temple, informed the brethren, by their chairman, that the 
committee of the council, having attended to the duties assigned them, had 
put into their hands the following communication as the result of their do- 
ings, viz : — 

To the church of Christ in Princeton under the pastoral charge of Rev. 

Mr. Phillips: 

Rev. and Beloved, — The committee appointed by a council mutually 
chosen by you and the church under the late care of Rev. Mr. Cowles, to 
unite said churches, having satisfied themselves of the personal piety of the 
following individuals, members of the last named church, recommend them 
to your fellowship ; and they are hereby embodied in one church with you, 
in accordance with your vote in accepting the result of said council. ^ 

[Here follow the names of forty-six individuals.] 

Wishing you grace, mercy and peace, we are yours, dear brethren, with 
Christian affection, 

LEMUEL P. BATES, ) 

CYRUS MANN, \ Committee. 

May 16, 1835. WILLIAM P. PAINE, > 

Voted, to accept and sanction the doings of the Committee of the Council. 

The deacons of the church, viz. David Brooks, Joshua Eveleth, Charles 
Russell, and Caleb Dana, having severally tendered their resignations of 
said olHce, in consequence of the union about to i)e consummated with the 
church under the pastoral care of the Rev. Mr. Philliiis, — Therefore, Voted, 
to accept of their resignation, and that they are, at their oicn request, hereby 
discharged from the duties appertaining to said ofiice. 

Whereas several of our brethren and sisters have not seen fit to comply 
with the advice contained in the result of council, and to appear with the 
church this day before the committee appointed for the purposes mentioned 
in said result— Therefore, Voted, that the clerk of the church be authorized, 
when requested, to give certificates to such persons as did not conform to 
the result of said council, certifying that they n-ere members in regular 
standing previous to the union, said certificate to bear date of this day, 
May IC)^ 1H35. 

Voted, That brothers Charles Russell and Caleb Dana, be directed to 
present to the Rev. Mr. Phillips's church, the letter of recommendation, 
that the union of the churches may be consummated, agreeably to the result 
of the Ecclesiastical council convened in this place in December last, at the 
request of said churches, and in accordance with the subsequent votes and 
transactions of said churches, in adopting the result of said council. 
Voted, To dissolve the meeting. 

Copy, and record of the proceedings. 

CALEB DANA, 
Late Clerk of the church under the late pastoral care of Rev. Mr. Cowles. 

The letter of admission contained in the above record of 
proceedings was put into the hands of Mr. Phillips, as pastor 



HISTORY OF PRINCETON. 87 

of the evangelical congregational church, on the 18th of May. 
On the same day a meeting of the societies was held at their 
respective places of worship, when that under the pastoral 
care of Mr. Phillips voted to dissolve their society, and unite 
with the congregational, in acordance with the recommenda- 
tion of the council, the latter, in the meantime, voting them 
in individually, agreeably to legal requisitions. 

The union was thus apparently consummated. Both 
churches had adopted the result of council, by which result 
the congregational church were entitled to all the rights, priv- 
ileges, and immunities of that under ]Mr. Phillips, upon the 
recommendation of the three ministers therein named. By 
the letter of this committee, they were " embodied in one 
church" with them. Two churches no longer existed. One 
united church had taken their place. The societies had also 
become legally united by the votes of the 18th of jMay. 
Yet, as we shall see in the sequel, no real union was as yet 
consummated. Although a great majority of the church and 
society were satisfied, a few were disposed to overturn all 
that had been accomplished, and seemingly to thwart every 
measure which the friends of union could propose. " It is 
often," says the Rev. Mr. Abbott, "in the power of one 
stubborn individual to keep a whole church for months in a 
state of disquietude. He will set up his will against the 
prayerful decisions of the whole church. He will persist in 
fomenting strife, though he knows he is destroying harmony 
and happiness. It is astonishing to see how much of passion, 
and prejudice, and unfairness, he will allow himself to exhibit. 
Such a man is a terrible curse to a church. The ingredients 
of such a character are, generally, mortified pride, disappoint- 
ed ambition, and self confidence. He will deceive himself 
by supposing that he is contending for principle, when he is 
the victim of wilfulness. There seems to be no access to his 
understanding or his heart. All appeals to his Christian feel- 
ings are in vain. The united opinion of all his brethren is 
nothing to him. The decision of the most devoted ministers 
of God deserves no regard. The destruction of the church, 
the grief of the brethren and sisters, the exultation of the 
foes of Christ, the ruin of many souls, are all of no moment 
in his eyes, compared with having his own will. A church 
can hardly suffer a more severe calamity than to have such a 
persbn in its enclosures." [Path of Peace, p. 146.] 



88 HISTORY Ol- PRINCETON. 

How far tliese remarks are applicable to a portion of the 
members of the church in Princeton we leave the community 
to judge. What hindrances such individuals would oppose 
to a union may be easily imagined. 

Another obstacle in the way of a full consummation of the 
union, was, the circumstance, that Mr. Phillips must be re- 
garded as the pastor of the united church, he being previously 
pastor to that to which the congregational were added, this 
addition could not be supposed to change his relation to them. 
Mr. Phillips seems also, both by his action and the letters of 
October 10th, and December '2d, 1835, which follow, decid- 
edly opposed to a union, or, at least, of opinion that the time 
for it was not " at present," and "that the business of union- 
making must be given up until some future day." But what- 
ever his opinion of the desirability of a union, he was bitterly 
opposed to the manner in which it had gone into eftect, 
and would and did exert the whole weight of his influ- 
ence to revoke and annul all past proceedings in the matter. 
For his views, I am indebted to his " Appeal to the Candid 
of all Parties Respecting the Religious Difficulties in Prince- 
ton," a small pamphlet, of twenty-six pages, appearing under 
his signature, and which, although a professed " appeal to 
the candid," is anything but a candid appeal, or an impartial 
history. Allusion has already been made, in one or two in- 
stances, in notes, to this " Appeal," nor should I again no- 
tice it were it not one of the documents upon " the union," 
and a professed history of the events which I am narrating. 
The refutation of all the positions it assumes, or all the asser- 
tions it makes, is not my province, and would be as ungrateful 
a task to me, as its perusal an uninteresting one to the reader. 
Yet I cannot refrain from noticing one or two of the most 
prominent. 

After a variety of gratuitous censure upon the council, and 
illiberal and uncharitable impeachment of the motives of the 
friends of union in both churches, the " Appeal" proceeds — 
'• The objection to this measure, (the mode of union of the 
churches proposed by the council,) was, that it took the right 
of deciding with whom they should be willing to hold fellow- 
ship and commune, out of the hands of the church, and com- 
mitted it to strangers." The measure proposed no such thing. 
The right of deciding with whoni they would " hold fellow- 
ship and commune" was left to the church, and they exercised 



HISTORY OF PRINCETON. 89 

that right in adopting the result of council. For this was 
really nothing else than saying, " we will hold fellowship and 
connnune with whomsoever three disinterested, pious ministers 
shall say it to be our duty." Two individuals submit a case 
to a reference, each agreeing to do that which the referees 
shall say to be just. As well might one of these individuals 
complain that he had no action in the matter, because the 
award of the referees was not re-submitted to his decision, as 
Mr. Phillips that his church had no action, in deciding on the 
admission of the members of tlie other church, because their 
action was previous, rather than subsequent, to that of the 
"council's committee" — because they chose to put confidence 
in their discretion and faithfulness, rather than exercise a su- 
pervision over them. The church has undoubtedly a right to 
decide upon the pretensions of each individual to be admitted 
to its privileges. But may it not, without impairing its prerog- 
ative or its action in the matter, delegate this right to a commit- 
tee ? Have the people of the United States no action in nation- 
al affairs, because they delegate their power in these things to 
representatives. The result of council " took'''' nothing from 
the church. It was a mere piece of advice, inert and useless, 
until the voluntary action of the church, in its adoption, gave 
it life and animation, received its directions, accepted the 
committee it nominated, and delegated to them in a perfect 
confidence the power recommended. Was there in this any 
infringement of the prerogatives of the church — any violation 
of its rights ? 

The right, moreover, of saying " with whom the church 
should fellowship and commune," was not in reality submitted 
to the committee. The church, whom it was proposed to ex- 
amine, were recognized as orthodox, and in full communion 
with the surrounding ones, and had any one of them been 
present at the celebration of the supper by Mr. Phillips, they 
would have been privileged to accept the invitation usually 
extended to sister churches on such occasions. They thus 
enjoyed a right or privilege not appertaining to those connect- 
ing themselves with a church by profession. The evangelical 
church, by their union with the same association as the con- 
gregational, had in some sense decided the question, the set- 
tlement of which the " Appeal" says the council " took from 
the church" and " conmiitted to strangers." Ought a church, 
in the standing of the congregational, to have submitted to an 
1-2 



90 • HISTORY OF PRINCETON. 

examination of a committee of ministers, much less the stand- 
ing committee of the other church, in the same manner as 
persons making for the first time a profession of rehgion ? 
Let the candid reader decide the question.* 

The " Appeal" next takes exceptions to the manner in 
which the committee discharged its duties. It complains of 
the fact, that they " satisfied themselves of the personal piety" 
of forty-six individuals in three hours. " Forty-six individuals 
in three hours !" is its indignant exclamation. If the committee, 
men of integrity and piety, '■^satisfied themsehes,^^ I cannot 
see it to be of material consequence, whether they were three 
hours or three weeks in doing it. But let us look at the ex- 
amination. An orthodox church, recognised and in regular 
standing, in fellowship with every orthodox church of the 
vicinity — with an unexceptionable evangelical covenant — for 
a year and a half at least under the settled ministry of an or- 
thodox clergyman, presents itself for examination before a 
committee of three ministers, all familiar with the church from 
the date of its adoption of a new covenant — all having at 
times preached before it — all intimately acquainted with the 
character of its pastor, as well as his ability and disposition to 
maintain its purity, and to deny admittance to it of all cold or 
doubtful piety, and finally finding a church freely presenting 
themselves before them without knowing the course they 
would pursue — a circumstance, which certainly indicates a 
consciousness on the part of the church, that they could sus- 
tain the scrutiny of any examination ; — with all these favor- 
ing circumstances, how long, I ask, would it take such a 
committee to " satisfy themselves" of the personal piety of 
such individuals ? Had the other church a right to insist on 
any examination ? 

But whatever intrinsic merit there may be in these argu- 
ments or objections of the " Appeal," they are of no avail for 
the purpose for which they are brought forward, viz. a justifi- 
cation of the minority of Mr. Phillips's church, in their action 
(yet to be told) subsequent to the adoption of the result by 
the majority. Admit them to be good objections to the adop- 

* This objection of the " Appeal" comes moreover with extremely ill 
grace from Mr. Phillips, as I am credibly informed the course recommended 
by the council was the identical one susrgested hij him on the day of their 
meeting, and adopted from a belief that his church would acquiesce in no 
other. 



HISTORY OF PRINCETON. 91 

tion of the result, inasmuch as they failed to secure this end, 
their utihty ceases. The church acted in view of them all, 
and a majority decided them invalid ; and the majority of a 
church, as well as a nation, must control its affairs. The 
legislature of a state passes a law hcensing the sale of ardent 
spirits. There may be and are valid objections to this. But 
would any court of justice countenance an offender, who 
should plead these objections as a justification of a violation 
of this law ? There may be cases, it is true, where objec- 
tions to measures may be so strong as to warrant resistance to 
them after their adoption. These emergencies are, however, 
rare, and this was not one of them. If these measures intro- 
duced improper members into the church, the proper course 
for those, whose eyes were clear enough to detect the mote, 
was, to bring their case before the church, and let them, if 
necessary, submit them to its discipline. At least, we should 
judge this a better course to obviate the evil, than the indul- 
gence of a violent opposition to a vast majority of the church, 
and a participation in measures tending to its utter prostration. 



CHAPTER VII. 

Further proceedings for a " Union." Secession of a portion of the Church. Mr. 
Phillips's Letter. Attempts at a Reconciliation. Proposition of the Disaffected 
Members. Replies. Second Proposition of the same. Reply. Vote by the 
Church to call a Council. Mr. Phillips's Letter. Inquiry from the Disaffected 
Members. Reply. Result of the Council. Proceedings of the Disaffected. 
Settlement of Mr. Demond. Universalist Society. 

After the apparent consummation of the union by the 
above votes of the churches and societies, the Rev. Mr. Phil- 
lips, whose relation* to the united church and society was 
somewhat doubtful, was invited by the society to supply their 
pulpit at the congregational house of worship. This invita- 

The addition of forty-six members to Mr. Phillips's church, as before 
stated, could not dissolve his pastoral relation with it. But the society, 
over which he was settled and through which the church could only be 
legally recognised, was by vote of the 18th of May dissolved, and the mem- 
bers had individually united themselves with the first parish, and could not, 
in this inditidual union, be supposed to carry their minister with them. 
While Mr. Phillips was therefore pastor of the cliurch, and recognised by 
them as such, his relation to the society was of a more difficult decision. 



92 HISTORY OF PRINCETON. 

tion he accepted, and preached accordingly for five sabbaths, 
on the last of which he read the following communication : — 
" Whereas, it has become quite manifest to us, the subscribers, 
that the way is not yet prepared to carry the union respect- 
ing which so much has been said and done, into practical 
effect ; and whereas, neither we ourselves nor our families 
seem in a situation to derive much benefit from our minister's 
labors, under present circumstances, we regard it as our right 
and duty to request, and we do hereby request him to return 
to his former ))lace of labor." 

This document was signed by several menibers of the for- 
mer evangelical church and society. In accordance with its 
request, Mr. Phillips returned to his " former place of labor," 
and with him a portion of the church and society, to whom 
he (continued to preach for a few sabbaths. The number, 
however, w hich left the " old house," was not large. Those 
who remained held an unofficial meeting, June 2i2d, 1835, 
" to consider what measures ought to be taken in consequence 
of a number of the united church and society having with- 
drawn." The result of this meeting was the choice of a com- 
mittee, to consult the neighboring evangelical clergymen on 
the course to be pursued under existing circumstances. This 
committee reported, at a subsequent meeting, as the opinion of 
the clergymen consulted, that " the united church and society 
had better continue their meetings at the old (congregational) 
meeting-house, as usual." On the same day a meeting of the 
church was held, and a connnittee appointed to wait on Mr. 
Phillips, and ascertain, if possible, the cause of this with- 
drawal, and also to request him to call a meeting of the church, 
for the adjustment of the existing diniculties. This proceed- 
ing resulted in a meeting of a j)art of the church, viz. the 
mend)ers of Mr. Phillips's original church, in July following. 
At this meeting a resolution, expressive of the wishes of the 
disaffected, with respect to the members recently embodied 



This (luoslion iniirht be matter of curious speculation. Suppose Mr. Cowles 
had still been the minister of the congreiratioiia! society. As the addition 
of members to the church did not atlect Mr. I'liillips's relation, neither 
could the addition to the conivretration alter Mr. (/owles's; and thus Mr. 
Phillips would be jjastor of the churcii and Mr. 0)uies minister of the con- 
oren-ation. As circumstances were, the former was paslnr of the church, 
while the society had no minister, and accordingly invited Mr. Phillips to 
supply their pulpit. A state of things admirably illustrating " confusion 
worse confounded." 



UISTOUV OK I'KIN* l.'I'ON. 93 

willi iIk! cliiiicli, was ])iiss('(l. A coiiy of this rcsdiiilioii will 
Jippcar in a siilt.si'(|iit'iil Ictlcr of I\Ir. I*liilli|)s, in Ociohcr, (he 
date ol' its conununicalion to ilic nnilt'il cluncli. 

Subsoqucnl to the passa/j;^ of this resohition no Uniln r mea- 
sures wore taken to obviate existint^ troubles initil ()cn»l)er 
5th, wiuin a nie(!ting of llic cbincli was held, and a eoinniittee 
appointed " to wail on (lie Kcv. Mr. I*liillips and consult 
with bini in relation to ixislini; diliicullics, and also re(|ue.st 
him to call a rneetin;^ ol" ilic (•lunch, to see if some nufasures 
cannot be adoptiul that will rdiu't a reconciliation, and restore 
peace and harmony." A( ilic same time th(( deacon of the 
church was (nnpowercd lo call a mcclintf, " provided Mr. 
l^hillips should refuse." Willi the re(|nest ol' this connnittee 
Mr. i*hillipsde<dine(l complyinj^;. They were, however, jriven 
to understand, '' that the dillicidiies in the church arose from 
a dissatisfaction, on the part of those who had withdrawn, 
with a j)()rtion of the members lately embodi(;d with them by 
the better of the councirs committee." This is the cause 
which the "Appeal" allet^es as the occasion of the with- 
drawal. That it was not the oidy one, the followiiif^ letter of 
Mr. Phillips, to the chairman of the connnitte(!, will show. 
It would seem from this that " tlu; diHiculiy lo bc^in with," 
and the main oiu', was in his (iri'^inal church, and not a dis- 
satisfaction with llie newly added niembiTs. 

I'linccUm, Octohir 10, '\H'^7^. 
My ileiir Hir, — In roflccliii}; on our lonjj convurHiition y<*Hl<?rdnv, ojie or 
two tliin^TH liavi! ocinirr(;d, vvliinli I Uiitik it ini|»>rtiiiil In in<Mili(in. Mr. 'I'cni- 
j)l« you rccolli^ct, <lciiil)ll<inH, iiskfd wlicllicr a wiinl ol' knowh-dui- nf thdir 
viuwH luiil fuclinfTH \'C. wiiH llin only diiruiiilly f 'J'liu iinnvviir 1 f:iii vc liini v.'Iih, 
perliiipH, Hulticicnt, iin it roHpectH tim.piTHonH whom it Iimn lii-i-n prnpoHcil 
should l)o uniti-d with our (iliurch.* tint tliore \h anollier diHifiilty wliifli 1 
retjiird it us hifrhjy iniportant, lli:it you iiiid tlioHu of our cliuri'li wlio havo 
inHiHled ho much on the union hoin^r ciirrit^d into cflticl on tin; pliin now b^- 
tort' UH, HJiouid diHtitictly undiTntiuid, It \h this ; niiiny oC the hi'Ht nitMnhorN 
ol' lint (^huri'li havi; Hiiid to nii-, a^uin iind uoaiu, lliat thi^y nIkjuNI I'ih-I mnru 
ditliculty in sittin^r at llin roniMiiiniDn with ctirtain jneinbcrH of our own 



* *' Tho perHonH whom it liaH h«<)n pio/wiiad nkouhl lie imittd with our 
church," were thu [xtrHonH whom the letter of the " council'H committee" 
Miiyi!, " lire hereby nnhodicJ In out; rhurili" with " our chiireh." Mr. I'hillipM 
accordiiif^ly very properly recofrriiMCM them im Hueli,in the lollowiiif; panHaf^e 
from the " Appeal." " 'I'liirluircU in litis /jlticr, tit llit: linir I htiitmi: ulile ttt 
rtisumii mil Itihttrn, wen: tliiutlftl itilii lii^it /itiiiifs ttnil liilil lliiir ttuir.ihi// in two 
litmsts." \'-A\rv !iU. And yet Mr. l'liilli|iM conlendH ajtraiimt u menHure propoM- 
ed by the chnrcli, (A|»penl, pai.'e jti,) beeiiuHu " the periir)nH recommended 
must nil be admitted to be ineniberH ol" the church." Thuh tho relation of 
the " forty-nix," neems to have depended entirely on the manner it ufl'ected 
Mr. Phillips's arji^ument. 



94 HISTORY OP PRINCETON. 

church* — with some two or three of the leaders in our difficulties, they 
mean, than with the persons recommended in the letter. That they never 
will commune with the members in question, until some satisfaction is made, 
I am quite sure. Is not this then the difhculty to begin with .'' Instead of 
all coming together as is so often urged, is there not an important work to 
be done in our own church first.' To my own mind no ])ointis clearer than 
this ; and J beg you, deacon, to think of it seriously and prayerfully; think 
of what has been said and done. 

One more thing it may be important to suggest : many, I find since my 
return from my last journey, begin to feel, that there cannot be a union at 
present, so much has been said and done to destroy confidence and produce 
disaffection. And these feelings have become so deep and strong, that the 
business of union-making must be given up until some future day, and bet- 
ter and more favorable state of things shall arise. Do meditate and pray 
upon these things, and speak the mind of prayer and love to others. 

Yours, A. PHILLIPS. 

Mr. Phillips declining to notify a meeting of the church, 
one was held on the 15th of October, at the call of the dea- 
con, agreeably to the vote of the 5th ult. Due notice of this 
meeting was given to the disaft'ected members. The follow- 
ing letter from Mr. Phillips, communicating what was un- 
doubtedly intended to be the above mentioned resolution of 
a portion of the church, passed in July, was received : — 

To the persons recommended by the committee designated by the council 
and others worshiping with them : 

In reply to the proposal for a meeting of " the whole," the members of 
the church, at the evangelical society's house, concluded that as they had 
seen no cause to change their views since their meeting in July, to direct 
the committee then appointed for the purpose, to transmit to you the resolu- 
tion then passed, and which was not communicated at the time, for the rea- 
son 1 recently stated to Capt. Dana and others at my house. The commit- 
tee above named have requested me to make out and send you a copy of the 
resolution in their behalf. As I have not the resolution in my possession, 
and as it is several weeks since it was passed, I shall not be able to give you 
its exact language ; in substance, however, it was as follows : — 

Resolved, that in order to a more harmonious and satisfactory union, this 
church wish for some suitable opportunity to obtain a knowledge of the re- 
ligious experience and doctrinal views of the persons who wish to become 
united with them. 

* " The standing, as to good name, of some of the persons recommended, 
and the character of several as to piety, is such as evinces that the committee, 
being sensible men, could not have examined them." Appeal, page 8. Yet 
Mr. Phillips and " the best members" of his church would feel less " diffi- 
culty in sitting at the communion" with these " than certain members of his 
oivn church." This would seem to evince Mr. Phillips less scrupulous of 
the purity of " /u'.s- oi/;/(. c/i?«c/f," at some time, since members were there 
worse than those whose " standing as to good name" was bad, than he ap- 
pears to be in his " Appeal." Certainly the " Appeal" and this letter, taken 
in connexion, are not very complimentary to " some two or three leaders in 
our difficulties," who, the reader should be informed, were no other than 
the friends of union, whose efforts have now been seconded, and whose 
measures adopted by the great majority of their brethren, who have thus all, 
I suppose, in Mr. Phillips's view, become less fit for the communion, than 
those vpho have no " standing as to good name." 



HISTORY OF PRINCETON. 95 

This resolution was moved by Mr. Ephraim Beaman, and seconded by Mr. 
Thompson. Yours, &c. A. PHILLIPS. 

Princeton, Oct. 12, 1835. 
Capt. Dana will please to communicate the above. 

The original resolution, the substance of which is intended 
to be embodied in the above, I find to be as follows : — " Re- 
solved, that the members of this church present wish for a 
knowledge of your views and feelings, of the reason of your 
hope, and of your doctrinal belief, that this church may have 
Christian fellowship with you, in any ivay which you shall 
choose to make it known to its.'' 

Upon this resolution the church acted, and it was " Voted, 
unanimously, by the members present, lately embodied in Mr. 
Phillips's church, that they are ready to comply with the wish 
expressed in said resolution." At the same lime a committee 
was appointed to converse with the absent members, and 
make known the proceedings of the meeting to the disaffected 
minority. This they did in the annexed communication : — 

To the committee and members of the church that worship at the Rev. Mr. 
Phillips's meeting-house. 

Christian Brethren, — At a meeting of the members of the church that 
worship at the late Rev. Mr. Cowles's meeting-house, held on the 15th Oc- 
tober, a communication was received from the Rev. Mr. Phillips, transmit- 
ting, at the request of a committee appointed for the purpose, a resolution 
intended and represented to be the same " in substance" with the one which 
was passed at a meeting held at the Rev. Mr. Phillips's meeting-house, in 
July last. The original vote or resolution, alluded to in the Rev. Mr. Phil- 
lips's communication, was then presented and acted upon with the one 
transmitted by him. The undersigned were appointed a committee to ascer- 
tain the views and feelings of ail the members who were recommended and 
embodied with the church by the committee of the council, and to transmit 
the same to you. The committee, having attended to the duty assigned 
them, feel authorised to communicate as follows : — 

That we are all willing, in any right and Christian manner, to comply 
with the wish expressed in the resolution ; that we ever have been, and are 
noin ready to give a reason of the hope that is in us, as we humbly trust, 
with meekness and fear ; and that it is. Christian brethren, our sincere de- 
sire, and prayer to God, that all our hearts may be united in the love and 
fellowship of the Gospel of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. 
' The committee would therefore request, if it meets your approbation, that 
you would appoint a committee to meet us, that we may mutually agree up- 
on the icay and manner, in which the information you desire, relative to our 
religious e.xperience and doctrinal views, shall be given. 
Yours, with Christian affection, 

CALEB DANA, ^ 

MOSES BULLARD, lr««.™,V/P* 

JOSHUA EVELETH, >Comrmttee. 

CHARLES B. TEMPLE, J 
Princeton, October 22, 1835. 

N. B. Should a committee be appointed, they will please to give us no- 
tice when they will meet us. 



96 HISTORY OF PRINCETON. 

Agreeably to this proposition, committees of conference 
were ap})ointed, and a mectinii; had, which resulted in the fol- 
lowing })ropo:^al from' the newly added members of the church, 
a surprising proposal to come from men, of whom Mr. Phillips 
says, " the standing of some, as to good name," and " the 
character of several, as to piety," was questionable. They 
had already submitted to one examination, and thereby " be- 
come embodied" in the church. Yet they were so far ready 
to renounce the privilege thus obtained, as to make their mem- 
bership dependent upon a second examination before a com- 
mittee of the " original church." Are persons whose "stand- 
ing, as to good name" and piety, is impeachable, generally 
thus fearless of investigation ? But I proceed to the commu- 
nication : — 

To Dea. Israel Howe and others of the Committee : 

Christian Brethren — In coinpHance with your request we herewith trans- 
mit to you the propositions which were made and offered for your consid- 
eration and acceptance, at a meeting of the conunittees, held at the town- 
house, JNovember 3, 1835. We then stated that we were willing to comply 
with the wish contained in the resolution, passed in July last, in the way 
and manner expressed in the following propositions : — 

We propose that the deacons of the church call a meeting of the whole 
church, including the members who were recommended and embodied with 
the church, by tlie committee appointed by the mutual council ; that a pas- 
tor, from some one of the neighboring churclies. be agreed upon by the 
brethren, and be invited to be present, to preside at said meeting ; and that 
the said pastor, together with the deacons of the church, have the libeity to 
ask such questions relative to our doctrinal views and Christian experience, 
as they in their wisdom deem expedient. And should there be any among 
the members, who have been recommended and embodied with the church, 
who choose to be conversed wiili in private, we propose that the privilege 
should, in such cases, be granted. 

We further propose, if, after Christian measures shall have been taken, 
there should be any of the members who do not give satisfactory evidence 
of their piety, that their cases be proposed to the church, by the deacons, 
for the action of liie ciiurch thereon, and if the ciiurcli consider sucli mem- 
ber or members as unsuitable to commune with the cliurch, that such be 
notified thereof, and be requested to wait until satisfactory evidence can be 
obtained by the church. 

CHARLES RUSSELL, ^ 

CALEB DANA, | <^„„,„„-^,,, 

... MOSES BULLARD, )■ ^^""""""^ 

JOSHUA EVELETH, ^oj luc i^aurcn. 

CHARLES B. TEMPLE, J 

This proposition did not satisfy the disaffected ; whether 
simply because the new members had chosen to make it, or 
because of inherent defects in it, the reader, with the aid of 
the annexed communications on the subject, can judge for 



HISTORY OF PRINCETON. 97 

himself. The following, (addressed to " the persons recom- 
mended by the council's committee," but whom the reader 
will recollect the " council's committee" " embodied in one 
churcli'^ with them,) is the reply and desired amendment to 
the proposals.* 

To the persons recommended by the council's committee to the church of 
which Mr. PhiUips is pastor : 

The committee appointed by us to confer with your committee, on the 
way and manner of your giving the church op[)ortunity to obtain a knowl- 
edge of your religious experience and doctrinal views, or, in other words, of 
the reason of your hope, report, what you proposed in substance, the follow- 
ing : that you would give an account of your views and feelings in religion, 
to deacons Stratton and Howe, and one minister ; tiiat these tliree should de- 
cide whether there are any cases that are not satisfactory ; if any, how many, 
and whose — and that these stand apart from the church. 

Now we would not be strenuous as to the wa}j and manner, but, we must 
confess, there appears to us to be something wrong in your plan. In the 
first place, it seems invidious to select two of our standing committee, and 
refuse the otliers opportunity to have any part in the matter. Why should 
they have no part in such a vitally important matter ? One of the two whom 
you select, moreover, has prejudged in the case. In the second place, it 
seems wrong to throw the whole responsibility of so important a duty upon 
only two members ; one oi them states that he feels unwilling to take it 
upon him. 

Allow us to propose, then, as an amendment to your plan, the following: 
That the persons recommended by the council's committee give the reason 
of their hope, in the hearing of as many members of the church as may 
wish to be present, to all the members of our standing committee, (except 
Mr. Pliillips, who feels unwilling to be present,) each member of the com- 
mittee having liberty to ask such questions as he may deem proper and 
important, one minister, (either Mr. Miller or Mr. Nelson, as you may 
choose,) and that the minister and committee decide whether there are any, 
and, if any, whose evidence is not satisfactory, and that the person or per- 
sona whose evidence is not satisfactory, according to,your committee's pro- 
posal, stand apart from the church. 

And as this plan, or some material modification of it, is the only one that 
it seems probable can remove the great obstacle to the union ; and as the 
evils which have resulted from past measures, already great and dreadful, 
are constantly increasing, we beg you to give it a candid and solemn con- 
sideration. In behalf of the church, 

JONAS BROOKS, ) Committee of 
ISRAEL HOWE, \ Communications. 

Upon the proposition of this communication, the annexed 
reply is the best comment : — 

To the committee and members of the church that worship at the Rev. Mr. 

Phillips's meeting-house : 

Christian Brethren — Your communication, made by Dea. Israel Howe 
and Jonas Brooks, Esq. was laid before the church, at a meeting thereof, 

* The reader will keep in mind the original resolution of the church, the 
conclusion of which is " in any tcay which you shall choose to make it 
known." 

13 



98 HISTORY OF PRINCETON. 

held on the 17th inst. and after due and prayerful consideration, it was 
voted, unaiiimoudij, that the church could not apjjrove of, and accede to, 
the proposed amendment to the propositions lately made to you, at a meet- 
ing of the committee of conference, held on the 3d inst. and subsequently 
transmitted for your acceptance, for the following reasons : — 

First, because the plan you propose requires a portion of the church, 
(those embodied therein by the council's committee,) to present themselves 
for examination before a committee, a majority of whom have repeatedly 
refused to acknowledge them as members of said church, or as entitled to 
any of the riolits and privileges of membership, and this too, as we think, 
in violation of high moral obligations, too sacred to be disregarded; and 
because that the said committee have already "prejudged in the case," by 
thus denying to said members the rights and privileges to which they are 
entitled by the result of an enlightened mutual council, sanctioned by a 
vote of the church. 

Secondly, because you propose to place in this same committee an uncall- 
ed for and unwarrantable assumption of power, not delegated to them by 
the clnirch — the power of determining the membership of all those recently 
embodied therein, thereby depriving the said church of any pvwer or action 
in their case. 

The undersigned were appointed a committee to transmit to you the 
above doings of the church, and in connection with the duty assigned us, 
would beg leave to add, that we sincerely regret that you should see fit to 
reject the propositions recently made to you, as they were propositions which 
we then thought, and still think, as best calculated to give satisfaction to 
all the members, and thus secure the h-armony and Christian fellowship of 
the church ; and, also, as fully meeting the wishes expressed in the resolu- 
tion passed by you in July last. When we submitted these propositions, 
7ce could not have believed, that they would be considered by you as " wrong 
and invidious." In view of irliat has already been done, we do not feel 
that we are called upon, either by your resolution, or frovi a sense of duty, 
to appear before the standing committee as candidates for admission to the 
church. In our plan, we proposed the deacons of the church, without any 
reference to their being members of the standing committee, but with refer- 
ence to the stations which they hold as olHcers of the church, and their 
competency to discharge the duties assigned them, and, also, as possessing 
our entire confidence, and, as we supposed, the unshaken confidence of all 
the members of the church. 

In closing this communication, you will allow us further to add, that we 
feel bound, by the most solemn obligations, to adhere to the result of coun- 
cil, and having, by that result, and by your act, as well as our own, been 
constituted members of the church, we can never consent to any measures, 
the tendency of which would annul the doings of the sister churches which 
composed that council. And we feel deeply aggrieved at the apparent want 
of Cliristian confidence and love, manifested by you towards us, in refusing 
to meet with, and to fellowship us, and in avoiding, in the interchange of 
communications, the common Christian salutations. We have, and still do, 
heartily desire a general union. May the Great Shepherd of the sheep 
streno-then us all to do his will, lead us to see, eye to eye, and in his own 
time and way, so unite us that we may be of one heart and of one mind. 

With Christian affection, we are yours, in the faith of the gospel, 
CHARLES RUSSELL, 1 
CALEB DANA, | Committee 

MOSES BULLARD, } ,^"/"^* 

JOSHUA EVELETH, j "J "'^ ^"■urcii. 
CHARLES B. TEMPLE,J 

Princeton, jXuv. 21, 1835. 



HISTORY OF PRINCETON. 99 

As there seemed now no prospect of a reconciliation with 
the disaffected members, and as JNIr. PhiUips refused to per- 
form the duties of his pastoral relation to the united church, 
they determined to take more decisive measures, and, accord- 
ingly, a meeting was held December 4, 1835, " to see if said 
church would take measures to call an ecclesiastical council, 
to dissolve, if expedient, the pastoral relations of the Rev. 
Mr. Phillips with the church, and also to consider and advise 
the church in relation to the unhappy difficulties existing 
therein." Notice of this, as of all other church meetings, 
was given to the disaffected members. On this occasion, it 
drew from them the following re})ly, as w^ell as the accompa- 
nying letter from Mr. Phillips, addressed to the deacon of the 
church who had given the notice : — 

To Deacon Straiten : 

In the absence of Dea. Howe, confined at home by ill health, to whom 
you addressed a note, requesting him to call a meeting of the church at the 
old house, to consider the question of a mutual council, the standino- com- 
mittee having conferred with those who worship with them, are authorized 
to say, that we tiiink it inexpedient to call another council at present, 
hecause we are deeply persuaded that it can do no good. When we look 
at the dreadful consequences which have resulted from the doings of one 
council, what encouragement can we have to try another. We would 
gladly engage in any measure from which we could see reason to hope that 
good might result. But as we can see none to hope for good from another 
council, we must decline having a voice in calling one. 
Yours, respectful!}', 

ISRAEL HOWE, ^ 

JONAS BROOKS, I ^ 

JOHN H. BROOKS, l f^mmMee 

CALEB MIRICK, f of the Church. 

EBENEZER PARKER, Jr. J 

Princeton, Dec. 2, 1835. 

My dear sir — In a note you addressed Dea. Howe, respecting a meeting 
to confer on the subject of another council, you speak of inviting me to 
unite in it, that they may consider my relation to the church, and, if thought 
expedient, to dissolve it, &c. It would be soon enough for me to speak, 
perhaps, when the church shall have united in making the proposal to me. 
But it may serve, perhaps, to relieve the people at the old house, and clear 
the way for some course they may have in view, if I so far anticipate the 
proposed meeting on Friday, as to authorize you to say to those who may 
be present, that they need give themselves no further anxiety respecting 
my dismission. I have had my request for it written several weeks, and 
have been waiting for a fit opportunity — siiall improve the first, and if one 
does not occur quite soon, endeavor to make one — to present it. All I shall 
wish, as to a council, is, for a small one to ratify our proceedings. 

Now that I have had occasion to speak of the subject of a council, I will 
add a few words, which you can communicate or not, as j-ou see fit — which 
may be regarded by those whom it may concern, as much, or little, as they 
shall see fit. As to another mutual council, you probably know my views 
already. If such a council were invited, and, having met, and called in, 



100 HISTORY OF PRINCETON. 

and heard the parties fully, should then send for me, and say, Mr. Phillips, 
you have been on the ground through all these diiliculties, and know, we 
presume, as fully as any one, their real nature ; will you state to us what 
you think we can propose that may be satisfactory to both parties? I 
should feel constrained to say. I must and should say, 1 do not think that 
anything that would be satisfactory to botii can be proposed, at present. 

As to an ex parte council, which I have understood is contemplated, I 
hope you will not call one, until you have ])ondered the subject deeply and 
solemnly. Such a council, indeed, from the very circumstance that it is 
ex parte — of and for a />ari(/, generally, though not always, does the thing 
for which it was called. What such a council (should one be called) might 
do here, we do not indeed know. But let such an one come, in the midst 
of the present excitement, and if they do any thing satisfactory to the party 
which called them, it would, in all probability, be something that will keep 
a very respectable portion of the church, respectable as to standing, num- 
bers, and what they are able to do, and have done in years past, for the 
support of the ministry, from erer uniting with you in attending on the or- 
dinances of the church, and settling and supporting a minister. My advice, 
then, is, and in all the solemnity that gathers around the thought of last 
advice, I would say it, do not call an ex parte council yet. The cause is lost 
if you do ! 

A word as to the manner in which the amended proposition, from the 
portion of the church at our house, was acted upon. Perhaps I misunder- 
stand Esquire Russell's letter ;* but if I do not, the course taken is, to me, 
astonishing. The letter speaks of the [jroposition being laid before " the 
church;" by which I suppose is meant, nil the members at the old house. 
But the proposition was not made to the church, but to a certain and definite 
class of persons, (in the church, indeed, as you and they would have it.) 
Is it possible, then, that those of you, to whom it was not made, and whom 
it did not personally concern, could have acted upon it, and more still, been 
the first to speak against it.^ I hope it is not yet to turn out, as has often 
been said, that those who have gone from our house are doing more to pre- 
vent a union than those who were there before ; but this certainly looks 
very much like it. The persons concerned appointed a committee to con- 
fer on the " way and manner of giving a reason of their hope, and all from 
their own number ; seeming to suppose, and very correctly, as 1 think, that 
it was a matter which concerned them only. To have been conducted in 
order, the business should manifestly have been carried through by them 
only. The result might, perhaps, have been the same ; I was led to hope, 
however, from what I heard, and with considerable confidence, that, had 
their proposition been written and fully understood, an alteration might 
have been suggested, which would have been so far satisfactory to both par- 
ties, that the difficulties might, perhaps, have been got into a course of set- 
tlement. Yours, &.C. 

A. PHILLIPS. 

As from their communication there was no prohabihty of a 
union of the disaffected in the proposed measure, tlie church 
voted to call an ecclesiastical council for the purposes men- 
tioned in the notice of the meeting, and choose a committee 
to select the churches, and issue letters missive. This com- 



* " Esquire Russell's letter" was the official communication of the com- 
mittee, of which he was chairman, on page 97, which the phraseology here 
used would hardly indicate. 



HISTORY OF PRINCETON. 101 

mittee were also instructed to invite Mr. Phillips to unite in 
this council, and also to delay issuing their letters to afford him 
an opportunity of consummating the design expressed in his 
letter of Dec. 2d. As, however, he refused to unite with the 
church, and delayed to ask a dismission agreeably to the de- 
claration of the above-mentioned letter, another meeting was 
held, December '27th, when it was '* thought best that the 
committee should delay issuing letters missive, one week long- 
er, that the Rev. Mr. Phillips, or the disaffected brethren, 
might have opportunity to make further communications if 
they desired it." . Accordingly, at a meeting lield January 
3d, 1836, the following communication was received by the 
church, and the appropriate measures taken, which led to the 
annexed reply : — 

To the persons recommended by the council's committee : 

The portion of the church at Mr. Phillips's house liaving understood 
from you that the amendment we proposed to the proposition, in which you 
proposed to give a reason of your hope, is unsatisfactory, — willing still and 
desirous to do any thing to affect a reconciliation, that seems to us at all 
consistent and right, would inquire further, whether it would be any more 
satisfactory to designate yourselves six, to be added to the examining com- 
mittee ; and then, in case this committee having attended to the important 
duty entrusted to them, should report some individuals as not giving satis- 
factory evidence of piety, to liave the case of those individuals — they hav- 
ing stood apart awhile from the church, as you proposed — decided by the 
voice of the church, excepting those recommended. 

ISRAEL HOWE, ^ 

JONAS BROOKS. I Committee 

JOHN H. BROOKS, { of the Church. 

EBENEZER PARKER, Jr. J 

To the portion of the church worshiping at the Rev. Mr. Phillips's meeting- 
house : 

Christian Brethren — By a communication, lately transmitted by your 
committee, we are informed that you are "willing still, and desirous to do 
any thing to eft'ect a reconciliation, that seems to us at all consistent and 
right." In answer, we can assure you that our own feelings are in perfect 
accordance with the sentiment conveyed in the language just quoted. But 
in relation to the inquiry you make — viz. " whether it would be any more 
satisfactory to designate yourselves six, to be added to the examining com- 
mittee" — the undersigned would reply, that, so far as they have been able 
to ascertain the views of the brethren, it would not be any more satisfac- 
tory ; because we can see no reason why there should be so large an exam- 
ining committee, especially when it is remembered that we have already 
been once examined, and embodied with the church, by a committee of 
reverend gentlemen, appointed by an enlightened council, and approved of, 
both by yourselves and us. Nor would it be satisfactory, because your 
inquiry is conditioned upon a, principle which we believe of dangerous ten- 
dency, and which, if adopted, would deprive us of the rights and privi- 
leges of members; and this too, as we believe, in violation of our Christian 
duty and covenant obligations. We would now refer you to our communi- 



102 HISTORY OF PRINCETON. 

cation, addressed to you a few weeks since, as containing what were then, 
and are iwir, our views upon tills subject. 

We remain yours, witli Christian affection, 

CALEB DANA, ) 

MOSES BULLARD, > Committee. 

CHARLES B. TEMPLE, ) 
Princeton, Jan. 5, 183G. 

The church now proceeded to carry into execution its vote 
of December 4th, 1835, and, in accordance with it, an eccle- 
siastical council was convened on the 20th of January follow- 
ing. A notice of this meeting of the council was served upon 
Mr. Phillips, and the disaffected members of the church, and 
both appeared in their defence before them. Their doings 
will be best learned from the accompanying result : — 

At an Ecclesiastical Council, convened by letters missive, from the Con- 
gregational Church in Princeton, under the care of Rev. Mr. Phillips, at 
the house of Mr. Ivory Wilder, January 20th, lH3(i, to consider the expe- 
diency of dissolving, and if deemed expedient to dissolve, the pastoral rela- 
tion between the Rev. Mr. Phillips and said church, and also to give such 
advice to the church as they may judge proper, 

Were present the following Pastors and Delegates : — 

From the Church of Christ in New-Braintree, Rev. John Fiske, Pastor, 
Br. Job Ranger, Delegate. 

From the Church oT Christ in North-Brookfield, Thos. Snell, D. D., P., 
Dea. Jos. A. Moore, Del. 

From the Church of Christ in Hubbardston, Rev. Sam'l Gay, P., Dea. 
Justin Ellinwood, Del. 

From the Church of Christ in Leicester, Rev. John Nelson, P., Br. Sam'l 
Watson, Del. 

From the Church of Christ in Rutland, Rev. Josiah Clark, P., Br. Calvin 
G. Howe, Del. 

From the Church of Christ in Templeton, Rev. Lemuel P Bates, P., Br. 
Jona. Cutting, Del. 

From the Church of Christ in West-Boylston, Rev. Elijah Paine, P., 
Dea. Jos. P. Parker, Del. 

From the Church of Christ in Holden, Rev. Wm. P. Paine, P., Dea. 
Peter Rice, Del. 

The council was organized by choosing Rev. Mr. Fiske, Moderator, and 
Rev. Mr. Bates, Scribe, and Rev. Mr. Paine of Holden, Assistant-Scribe. 

The council was opened with prayer, by the moderator. A communica- 
tion was then read, from the Rev. Mr. Phillips, directed to the moderator of 
the council, protesting against any action by that body, affecting his pastoral 
relation, den3'ing their right to exercise any jurisdiction in the case, and 
assigning, as a principal reason, that he is not the jiastor of that body of 
men, by whose request the council has been convened. 

Whereupou llie council voted that a conmiittee of two, from their body, 
be appointed to wait upon the Rev. Mr. Phillips, and a conmiittee from the 
seceding members, and invite them to be present, and hear the statements 
that should be made by the committee of the church, and make any com- 
munications, which might serve to lead tlie council to a correct result. 

The committee of the council attended to the duty assigned them, and 
the Rev. Mr. Phillips and his committee were present during the hearing 
of the case. 



HISTORY OF PRINCETON. 103 

The committee calling themselves the committee of the church, consist- 
ing of the following gentlemen, viz. Dea. Samuel Stratton, Charles Rus- 
sell, Esq., Capt. Caleb Dana, llufus Davis, and Chas. A. Mirick, presented 
various documents and records, which documents and records Mr. Phillips 
admitted to be correct, showing that a council had been called in December 
17, 1834, to unite the two churches then existing, and that a plan of union 
was presented to the two churches, as t.'ie result of the council, which re- 
sult was subsequently accepted by the two ciiurches, in regular church 
meetings, duly convened for tiiat purpose, no one dissenting. 

Therefore the council are unanimously of opinion, that there is but one 
congregational church in Princeton, viz. that which is called the united 
church. 

The committee furthermore showed that Mr. Phillips, by invitation, con- 
sented to, and did supply the desk, for a length of time, for the united 
church and society, and then, at the request of a minority of said church, 
refused to officiate for them, and established a separate meeting. 

The council having these documents and records laid before them, voted 
to choose a committee of three of their body, to confer with the Rev. Mr. 
Phillips, and a committee of his friends, to receive or make any propositions 
which they might deem proper to make, by which the existing ditficulties 
might be amicably adjusted. 

Whereupon the Rev. Messrs. Fiske, Nelson, and Paine of West-Boyls- 
ton, were appointed this committee, who, after a long conference, returned 
and reported to the council that no propositions were made to them, and 
those which they made were not acceded to. 

The council then, at tiie request of Mr. Phillips, the organ of his com- 
mittee, attended to statements made by him, in relation to the documents 
laid before the council by the committee of the church, and also tlie reasons 
which led the minority of the church to secede, all w'hich, the council were 
of the opinion, did not in the least invalidate, but rather corroborated the 
the documents of the committee of the church. 

'" And the council, from a sense duty, cannot refrain from stating that the 
numerous papers presented by the committee, evince a peculiarly Christian 
spirit, on the part of the ciiurch, amid all their protracted and severe trials, 
and most clearly show that all has been done on their part which the gospel 
requires, or that any body of men have a right to demand. 

In view then of all the facts of the case, which the council have patiently 
and prayerfully considered, however unpleasant and painful it may be to 
the council themselves, or to the parties concerned, they are most clearly 
guided to the following result, viz : — 

That whereas, the Rev. Alonzo Pliillips, pastor and minister of the con- 
gregational church and society* in Princeton, has refused and neglected to 
administer the ordinances to said church and society for a long time, and 
whereas, the said Mr. Phillips has refused to unite, in calling a mutual ec- 
clesiastical council to dissolve said relation, when requested to do so, there- 
by depriving said church of the privilege of enjoying a stated ministry, and 
hindering the prosperity and wounding the cause of Zion, 

ro<c(/. That the pastoral relation subsisting between the Rev. Mr. Phillips 
and the congregational church in this place, ought to be, and hereby is, 
dissolved. 

The council, in coming to this result, are aware of the solemn responsi- 
bility under which they act, and however plain the case may be which has 



* This was an oversight, very probably a mere slip of the pen, on the part 
of the council. Mr. Phillips could not, in any sense, as he contends in his 
"Appeal," and as we have before stated, be regarded as minister of the Unit- 
ed Suciety. The mistake is of no consequence, however, as the council 
disviiss him from the church only. 



104 HISTORY OF PRINCETON. 

led them thus to decide, nothing but a pure sense of duty to the church and 
to the interests of Christ's kingdom, vviiich are paramount to every other, 
would have led them to dismiss liie pastor of this church, for whose comfort 
and usefulness tiiey cherish the highest regard. 

The council therefore cannot but hope that the Rev. Mr. Phillips will 
feel it to be his duty quietly to cease from his labors in this place. 

it now remains that we express our sympathy for the united church, and 
urge upon them the practice of every Christian virtue. 

Dear Brethren, you are now left as sheep without a shepherd. From 
what we have already witnessed of your Christian courtesy, and Christian 
spirit, we entertain a confident belief that you are in a good degree govern- 
ed, in your wislies and conduct, by a sincere desire to promote peace and 
the cause of Christ in this place. We urge you, with great earnestness, to 
show, by your future course of conduct, public and private, that your high- 
est aim is the good of mankind, and the glory of God. Strive not so much 
for victory, as for harmony and piety. The alienation of feeling, even 
among some of the professed disciples of Christ in this place, has, we fear, 
become serious. Reconciliation can be effected only by an enlarged spirit 
of forgiveness and love. 

Dearly Beloved, "Avenge not yourselves." " Be not overcome with evil, 
but overcome evil with good." 

It is the earnest advice of the council, that you, with all practicable dis- 
patch, provide yourselves with a pastor, who shall be a man after God's 
own heart. And in this, especially, strive for union, in feeling and action. 

As we recognise but one congregational church in this place, and that as 
now worshipmg in what is called the old meeting-house, we urge, as a 
Christian duty, and as required by church order, that the portion of this 
church who now worship in the new house, or in any other place, should 
return to their brethren, acknowledge them as such, and unite with them, 
harmoniously and cordially, in maintaining the institutions of the gospel, 
for the edification of the churcli, and for the enlargement of the Redeem- 
er's kingdom. And we cannot but cherish so high a sense of their Christian 
spirit and magnanimity, as to be confident that they will conform to our 
advice. And may the Great Shepherd of the sheep collect together the 
scattered flock, and then himself guard the fold against the entrance of any 
thing which can destroy or hurt. 

And, finally, may you and we meet together, where there shall be no 
more divisions nor animosities, but where shall exist harmony of judgement, 
conscience, and feeling, all being perfectly conformed to the will of God. 

This result was unanimously adopted, (that is, all voting.) 
JOHN F\SKE, Moderator. 
LEMUEL P. BATES, Scribe. 
WILLIAM P. PAINE, Jissistant Scribe. 

The above is a true copy from the original records. 

LEMUEL P. BATES, Scribe of Council. 

After the announcement of this result, sanctioning all their 
past proceedings, the united church and society continued to 
enaploy preaching at the " old house." In the mean time a 
most extraordinary proceeding had taken place among the 
disaffected and alienated members. This was no less than an 
assumption, that they were the church, and a procedure forth- 
with to set aside the doings of the church proper, and to dis- 
miss Mr. Phillips. On what grounds they assumed to be the 
church it is difficult to perceive. The two original churches 



HISTORY OF PRIiNCETON. 105 

had been united by tlie result of the first council, and the sub- 
sequent action of their committee and the churches. They 
had worshiped together as one church for five sabbaths, when 
a small minority, with the pastor, seceded. They could not, 
therefore, claim to be, what the " Appeal" denominates one 
of the original churches, " a courts church ;" while, to quote 
the language of .Air. Phillips, " according to the Groton result, 
and opinion of nearly the entire orthodox community," they 
were evidently " no church at all.'^ Inasmuch as they were 
a minority of, and had seceded from, the united church, they 
were neither legally nor ecclesiastically a church. This they 
have themselves since acknowledged, by asking a dismission 
of the united church for the purpose of organizing a new 
church. Yet of this body Mr. Phillips, between the date of 
the calling and the meeting of the council, of January '20th, 
and unknown to the church of which he was pastor, had 
asked a dismission, which his records say, " with much appa- 
rent reluctance and grief," was granted. The following is 
his letter : — 

To the Church of Christ : 

Dear Brethren, — When I answered, more than fifteen years ago, your 
unanimous call to settle with you in " the work of the gospel ministry." I 
expressed, as some of you doubtless recollect, a willingness and a determina- 
tion, to cast in my lot with yours, then in no very encouraging circumstan- 
ces ; to live or die with you. The whole history of my ministry shows, that 
I have never swerved from this purpose. The history of this church, too, 
shows that my ministry, its many faults notwithstandiiig, has been quite as 
successful as that of most other mens, under sitiiilar circumstances. The 
course, however, which has been |)ursued by some of. the members of the 
church for the last si.\ months, the particulars of which, as they are well 
known to you all, 1 need not state in this communication, have thrown ob- 
stacles in the way of my success in future, and inflicted a wound on my 
feelings, which must, doubtless, justify me in your view, in requesting you, 
as I now do, to allow me to leave you ; to unite with me in the usual meas- 
ures for dissolving our connexion. And may the God of peace and love be 
with you forever. A. PHILLIPS. 

Frincclon, Jnnuurij 12, 183G. 

Shortly after the sitting of the council called by the church, 
another, consisting, I believe, of three clergymen, was con- 
vened at the request of IMr. Phillips and his friends, at his 
house, who, without notice to the church, proceeded to con- 
summate the vote of the seceders. Which of these dismis- 
sions — that by the council called by the united church, of 
whose meeting due notice was given to all parties, before 
whom Mr. Phillips appeared in defence, and who dismissed 
him from the united church — or that by the council at his 
M 



106 HISTORY OF PRINCETON. 

house — called by a small minority of this church, who had 
seceded, and who have since asked a dismission from it, /or 
the purpose of organization — a council, who, without notice, 
and unknown to any but himself and friends, dismissed him 
from his rcintion to the disaffected members of a church — 
which of these dismissions, I say, would be sanctioned by 
ecclesiastical usage, the reader must decide. 

Shortly after this proceeding, the disaftected minority em- 
ployed the Rev. Elijah Demond of Holliston, to preach to 
them at Mr. Phillips's " former place of labor." Tn the mean- 
time, the united church and society determined to leave no 
effort untried for the consummation of a general union, voted 
to " suspend public worship at their house," and attend on 
the ministrations of Mr. Demond. Soon after, their willing- 
ness to " sit under his ministry," in case they would unite 
with them in inviting him to " settle over the united church 
and society," was unofticially made known to his employers. 
The minority had, however, previously to this, invited him to 
become their minister. This invitation Mr. Demond negativ- 
ed. Yet without impairing the belief that he would settle with 
them in the event of their return to the united church, and of 
a concurrence of that church in their invitation. Under this 
expectation a portion of the disaffected returned " to their al- 
legiance," and, on the .5th of December, 1836, the united 
church '• voted unanimonslij to give the Rev. Elijah Demond 
a call to settle over said church in the work of the gospel 
ministry." The society having concurred in this invitation, 
and an alHrmative answer having been given by Mr. Demond, 
he was installed October 26th, 18.36. The sermon on this 
occasion was preached by the Rev. Jacob Ide of West-Med- 
way. The remainder of the alienated members, who still re- 
fuse to commune with the church, have recently asked a dis- 
mission from it, for the purpose of organizing another. What 
action will result from this, is yet to be developed. 

T have now finished the narration of this controversy, as 
ungrateful to me as it may be tedious to the reader. I have 
collected it from documents — I should rather say, I have fur- 
nished the reader the documents themselves, from which he 
may perhaps learn the strength of human depravity, even when 
under the influence of religion ; yet, as he goes quietly and 
wearily through them, he will be far from realizing, unless 
familiar with the scene of action, the convulsions which our 



HISTORY OF PRINCETON. 107 

little community have undergone in going the same course. I 
now dismiss the protracted subject with as heartfelt gratifica- 
tion, and as perfect weariness, as it is not improbable he may. 
A single other division, told in few words, and the " ecclesias- 
tical history" closes. This was the secession of about thirty 
individuals, a portion of them with families, from the congre- 
gational society, at the date of Mr. Cowles's settlement, and 
who were at the time organized as a Universalist society. 
They have as yet no settled preacher, or house of worship. 
Their meetings are at present held at the " town-house," where 
preaching is had about one third of the time. 

A new house of worship is now erecting by subscription for 
the use of the united society. It is a chaste and neat edifice, 
beautifully situated near the centre of the town, with bell and 
spire, and contains sixty-eight ground, and sixteen gallery pews. 
The probable cost is estimated at between six and seven 
thousand dollars. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

Political History. Revolutionary Services. Resolutions in 1773. Instructions to 
Representative, 1771. Bounty to Soldiers. Imperfect Report of a Committee 
on Revolutionary Services. Declaration of Rights. Subsequent Political His- 
tory. 

As we turn with something of disgust from the ecclesiastical, 
a brighter page opens to us in the political, history of our town, 
yet marked by the same unyielding firmness characterising the 
people, and wliich, according to its enlistment on the side of 
right or wrong, becomes the most impregnable bulwark, or the 
most insuperable obstacle of truth. Developed in tiieir reli- 
gious difficulties, it is the most uncompromising obstinacy, 
shutting up alike from all access the understanding and the 
feelings. Displayed in their political action, it rises into the 
most elevated and devoted patriotism, now bursting out in all 
its splendor and sublimity on the battle-field, and now kindling 
into the simple beauty of heartfelt agonizing supplication at 
the family altar. Brighter histories of patriotism than the re- 
cords of our towns exist nowhere. Nobler evidences of a de- 
votion to their country that knew no reserve, history docs not 



108 HISTORY OF PRINCETON. 

furnish. The efforts of the humbler portion of the New-Eng- 
land population, in the cause of the revolution, have never 
been I'ully known and appreciated. We have dwelt upon the 
exploits of the more conspicuous personages in that contest 
until they have become degradingly familiar, while the un- 
numbered many have been forgotten. If the offerings of the 
rich and noble were generous and free, those of the poorer and 
less distinguished were equally so. For like the poor widow's 
gift, it was an offering of all they had. The flame of patriot- 
ism burnt as bright in the heart of the poor housewife, who 
could contribute nothing, save a pair of stockings, or a solitary 
shirt to a ragged soldier, as in that of the wealthy noble, who 
opened wide liis well-furnished storehouse. If the merchant, 
with commendable generosity poured out his thousands freely 
as water, the firmer brought to the cause the richer, nobler 
offering of himself and his offspring. While property was fur- 
nishing its ample ])rovisions, and talent kindling an enthusi- 
asm which shook the very throne of monarchy, both found a 
response, true and hearty, in the humble but invincible yeo- 
manry. These it was who reared through the land the altars 
of patriotism, and amid the agonizing struggle of parental affec- 
tion and conscious duty, were ready, like the patriarch of old, 
at the command of God, to sacrifice thereon their own sons. 
These things our records tell, and yet tell but half. We see not 
the mother's irrepressible tears, as her only son leaves his 
plough in the furrow, or his sickle in the field, to hurry away 
from the quiet serenity and the holy influences of home, to the 
dangers of battle, and the worse contagions of a camp. We 
see not the farmer as he throws wide open his granaries and 
his doors to the famished family thus deprived of support. We 
see not the circle of blooming maidens gathered at the farmer's 
fireside to stamp their impress upon the soldier's, perhaps the 
lover's homely clothing. We hear not the pure, agonizing 
prayer for his country's cause, that ascends from the altar of 
humble family worship. Yet all these things, and a thousand 
others, have been, seen only by Him " who seeth in secret," and 
who has rewarded them openly in the freedom and prosperity 
of a happy and growing country. 

Their records show the people of Princeton not behind 
their neighbors in just conceptions of the benefits and desira- 
bility of the contest, or in their efforts for its maintenance. 
They, like their brethren, foresaw the impending storm in the 



HISTORY OF PRINCETON. 109 

horizon, long before it gathered in the blackening cloud that 
burst upon Lexington and Concord, and were consequently 
prepared for its reception. As early as January 18th, 1773, 
more than two years prior to the battle of Lexington, the fol- 
lowing resolutions were passed unanimously by the town : — 

Resolved, 1. That the connection between the mother country and tliese 
colonies is of great consequence to both, if mutually kejjtup; but when 
digressions are made from established compacts, that connection begins to 
lessen, and of course, creates an alienation, tlie effects of which must be 
attended with bad consequences. For the resolute man, in a just cause, 
while in a state of freedom, never will consent to any abridgements or de- 
privations of his just rights, and disdains threats or any measures of com- 
pulsion to submission thereto — not like the dog, the more he is beaten the 
more lie fawns — but, on the contrary, with a noble mind, defends to the 
last, and every stripe stimulates liis etibrts and endeavors, in defence of his 
own or his country's cause. 

2. Tliat this town, as a part of this province, whensoever their rights, 
liberties, and properties, are infringed 'upon, by what authority soever, that 
they, in honor to their forefathers, by whose solitude and industry, under 
God, they for many years have enjoyed tlie fruits of their labors — for the 
regard they bear to [)osterity — as friends to their country, have good right 
to complain, and manifest their uneasiness at such proceedings. 

3. That the repeated attempts to make the people of this province sub- 
ject to unjust ta.Kation, and absolute dependency upon the crown, together, 
appear subversive of, and inconsistent with, the constitution of a free people. 

4. That such measures are unconstitutional, and demand the attention of 
all well disposed people, and a mutual connection and joint adherence in 
proper means for redress, that thereby the rights and liberties, civil and re- 
ligious, which have been transmitted to us from our illustrious ancestors, 
might be kept inviolate by us their posterity. 

5. That they shall be always ready to concur in all just and proper means 
that this province and the neighboring colonies may come into for the com- 
mon good, and in conjunction with the friends of liberty, shall bear testi- 
mony to all invasions upon our rights and liberties. 

Ct. That this report (these resolutions) be put upon the town record, that 
posterity may know they had a sen.^e oi' their invaluable rights and liberties, 
and were not willing to part with them, but by their own consent, and that 
thry are determined to vindicate and support them :is times and occasions 
muij call for. 

These resolutions evince both a foresight of consequences 
and deterininateness of action on the part of the town. The 
spirit in which they originated pervaded and animated the 
people throughout the contest. In the fall of 1774, on the 
removal of the General Court to Salem, Moses Gill was cho- 
sen representative, with instructions " absolutely to refuse to 
be sworn to represent said town by any unconstitutional offi- 
cer ;" and, " in case tlie General Coiut were prevented sitting 
constltutionaUi/,'' to repair to Concord, and join the Provincial 
Congress. In January, 1775, a contribution of money and 
provisions was raised for the towns of Boston and Charlestown. 



110 HISTORY OF PRINCETON. 

And in the March following, it was voted " the standing com- 
pany* train once a week," A minute company were also 
organized at this time, consisting of thirty-six men, and a vote 
passed to procure them the necessary accoutrements, and sev- 
enty-two dollars in money. In May of the same year, a vote 
was passed " to receive twenty-four of the poor of Boston." 
At the actual opening of the war at Lexington, volunteers were 
numerous. Of the revolutionary enthusiasm which pervaded 
the town at this time, the proceedings with Mr. Fuller, narrat- 
ed under another head, are ample proof.f All these things 
evince feelings deep settled and comprehensive, and a deter- 
mination that knew no submission, or shrunk at no sacrifice. 
Subsequent to this date, the same feeling was manifested 
throughout the contest. In no case were the requisitions of 
the state or Congress neglected, The contributions of clothing 
and provision were large, burdensome, and of all descriptions, 
from a solitary pair of shoes or stockings up to the exactments 
of the public authorities, which drew hundreds from an ex- 
hausted treasury. Frequent mention is made in the records, 
of committees chosen to borrow money to defray such ex- 
penses, or to find securities for the sums voted to soldiers, as 
an encouragement to enlist. Even the cattle of the farm- 
yard were not unfrequently pledged as security, or offered in 
payment to the soldier, sometimes, indeed, to avoid the losses 
of a depreciated and depreciating currency, but oftener, be- 
cause the town, in its exhausted state, could supply nothing for 
his payment. The following is one among many votes on 
this subject : — " Voted, that each soldier that shall enlist in 

" The officers of" this company chosen at this time, were Ebenezer Jones, 
Captain, Joseph Sargent, Lieutenant, and Samuel Hastings, Ensign. 

t Another occurrence of this date, may ilhistrate this still farther. Among 
the inhabitants at this time was liowen, living on the farm now oc- 
cupied by tile f'jssrs. Kveretts, a Captain in the British army, who had 
obtained leave, at the close of the French war, to remain in this country on 
half pay. At the opening of the war he was summoned and returned to his 
duty in tliearmy. Soon after he, however, returned to visit his family. 
This was noised about the town, and a company of thirty or forty formed, to 
bring him to the summary punishment of those days, which, destroying the 
ancient philosopher's characteristic of man, metamorpiiosed him to a " two 
legged animal" iclth feathers. He however escaped tlie tar-kettle, upon 
'• marching between two files of men with his hat off, and professing a good 
will to the country." This satisfied the patriots. A vtuh was however or- 
ganized from their nuniber, who, with the usual rapacity of such assem- 
blages, proceeded forthwith to malie the most of the occasion, and to enrich 
themselves by plundering his property — a proceeding as shameless as un- 
christian and despicable. 



HISTORY OK PRINCETON. Ill 

the continental service for three years, or during the war, re- 
ceive one hundred hard dollars, in the following manner, viz : 
twenty hard dollars, and twenty more in paper, at the ex- 
change, viz. seventy-five for one, to he paid before he march- 
es ; thirty dollars to be paid in six months after marching ; 
and thirty more in one year after marching ; to be delivered 
to the soldier in camp, if required. And, at the end of three 
years, each soldier shall receive twelve three-year old cattle, 
of a middling size, or current money equivalent to purchase 
said cattle. And each soldier shall receive the aforesaid en- 
couragement only in proportion to the time he shall be in the 
service." 

Numerous votes similar to this — now empowering commit- 
tees " to borrow as much money as was necessary," and " to 
give securities in behalf of the town," now offering bounties to 
the soldiers, and now providing clothes and provisions for their 
destitute families or^^^a famished army — are scattered through the 
records, from 1775 to 17S.'3, a collection of which is unneces- 
sary, since they all but tell the same tale of devoted patriot- 
ism, at the stern summons of liberty, alike regardless of prop- 
erty, life, and the severance of the dearest ties of humanity. 
The two following documents will close the history of the 
rev^olutionary services of the town. 

One of these is an imperfect account of the number of men 
furnished at the expense of the town. This account contains 
many blanks with dates, which the committee probably had 
not, at the time, the rccjuisite information to fill, and subse- 
quently neglected it entirely. The document, which niay be 
interesting to some of my readers, is transcribed precisely as 
found among a mass of unfiled papers in the town clerk's 
office. Of the number of volunteers no record can be found. 
The other is a declaration or oath of allegiance, which I find 
appended to the second volume of the records,' without date. 
It was probably drawn sometime subsequent to the Declaration 
of Independence : — 

Aoreeable to a resolve of tlie general assembly, of the lltli of July, 1783. 
The following is the account of the encouragement given to the men which 
marched agreeable to the resolves of said court : — 

I. s. d. 
Dec. 1, 1775, 10 men marched to reinforce continental army, HO 00 
Jan. 20, 1776, 14 " " " '^ " " 2:i 02 

Jan. 24, 1776, 21 " " to New-York and Canada, 192 06 5 

Aug. 4 « " to Boston, 6 00 



112 HISTORY OF PRINCETON. 

I. s. d. 

Sept. 10, 177(5. If) men marched to Fort, 64 00 

Nov. 20, 177(), Ki " " to reinCorce the army at New- 

York, 2560 00 

Apr. 12, 1777, 7 " " to reinforce Gen. Spencer at 

Rhode-Island, 50 00 

July 16, 1777, 1 " " to guard stores at Brookfield, 2 00 

Aug. 9, 1777, 14 " " northward, served three weeks 

under Gen. Lincoln, 84 00 

Aug. 15, 1777, 11 " " northward under Gen. Warren, 165 00 

40 " " in consequence of orders from 

Gen. Stark, 160 00 

Sept 16, 1777, " " on expedition to R. I. 30 days, 

Sept. 22, 1777, 20 *' " northward under Gen. Bailey, 120 00 

Dec. 22, 1777, " " to Rhode-Island 

Feb. 7, 1778, 6 " " served under Gen. Heath, 720 00 

Apr. 18, 1778, 5 " " 595 00 

June 12, 1778, " " for defence of Rhode-Island, 

June 16, 1778, " " " " " 

June 23, 1778, 2 " " as Guards, 16 00 

July 24, 1778, 4 " " to Rhode-Island, 2(10 40 

July 27,1778, 7 " '• to " 210 00 

~ " to " itO 00 

" to aid Gen. Sullivan at R. I. 240 00 

" to guard Gen. Heath in and at 

Boston, 200 00 



to Rhode-Island, 90 00 



" to Claverick, and guards to Rut- 
land, 450 00 

" to ye Continental Army, Clav- 
erick, 13 10 
June 23, 2 " " 
Nov. 29, 1780, 

Feb. 28, 1781, 2 privates went to Rutland, 84 00 

Aug. 1 



Aug. 18, 


1778, 


3 


Sept. 6, 


1778, 


4 


Sept. 17, 


1778, 


4 


Jan. 1, 


1779, 




Jan. 26, 


1779, 




Mch 18, 


1779, 




Apr. 14, 
Apr. 15, 
Apr. 27, 
June 8, 


1779, 


3 


June 18, 






June 25, 






Sept. 17, 
Oct. 9, 




9 


Mch 15, 


1680, 




June 22, 




12 



1 do truly and sincerely acknowledge, profess, testif)', and declare, that 
the coiiirnonweallh of Massachusetts is, and of riirht ought to be, a free, 
sovereign, and independent state. And I do swear that 1 will bear true 
faith and allegiance to the said commonwealth, and that I will defend the 
same against all traitorous cons|)iracieB and hostile attempts whatsoever — 
and that I do renounce and abjure all allegiance, subjection, and obedience 
to the king or government of Great-Britain, and every other foreign power 
whatsoever. And that no foreign prince, person, prelate, slate, or potentate, 
hath or ought to have any jurisdiction, superiority, pre-eminence, authority, 
dispensing, or other power, in any matter, civil, ecclesiastical, or spiritual, 
within this commonwealth — except the authority and power which is or 
may be vested by their constituents in the Congress of the United States : 



HISTORY OF I'KINCETON. 113 

And 1 do further testify and declare, that no man or body of men hath or 
can have any right to absolve or discharge me from tiie obligation of this 
oath, declaration, or atRrniation — and tliat I do make this acknowledgement, 

{>rofession, testimony, declaration, denial, renunciation, and abjuration, 
learlily and truly, according to the common meaning and acceptation of 
of the foregoing words, without any equivocation, mental evasion, or secret 
reservation whatsoever, so help me God. 
Signed. 
SADEY MASON, SAMUEL WOODS, 

BENJAMIN IIOLDEN, JBOAZ MOORE, 
EBENEZER PARKER, WILLIAM THOMPSON, 
WILLIAM DODDS, HUMPHREY MOORE, 

ENOCH BROOKS, JONAS SMITH. 

The political history of the town, subsequent to the revo- 
lution requires little space. It has followed in the good old 
ways of federalism, supporting, with one or two exceptions, 
the dominant party of Massachusetts, from that time to this. 
During the administration of the federal Congress at the close 
of the war, there were few or no general political divisions in 
the country. Local questions sometimes organized factions in 
states or districts, but no general organization of political parties 
took place previous to the proposal to the people of the present 
Constitution of the United States. Previous, however, to this, 
the famous Shays's rebellion had broken out, and nearly the 
whole town of Princeton had partaken largely of the infection. 
Companies of soldiery were organized, and a considerable 
number of volunteers joined the rebel standard. While some 
one or two of the influential " government men were taken 
and held in duress a few days." Some one or two of the in- 
surgents of the town, 1 believe, were also, at a subsequent pe- 
riod, captured and imprisoned. With the dispersion of the 
rebels, however, by Gen. Lincoln, the town returned to their 
senses. The following instructions, given about this time to 
Col. Sergeant, a delegate elected to attend a convention held 
at Leicester, will exhibit some of the subjects of complaint. 
The conclusion, it will be seen, deprecates the creation of a 
paper currency : — 

As the safety- and happiness of a people depend upon the support of gov- 
ernment, and good and wholesome laws are to be enacted by the Legisla- 
ture for that purpose, — and that no people or body of men can be safe with- 
out it, — and that justice ought to be administered in a way least expensive 
to the people, — it is therefore the sense of this town, at this day of jiublic 
distress, that the number and salaries of public officers ought to be reduced, 
and that in our opinion government might be supported at a less expense 
than it is at present, and that the granting monies from time to time to per- 
sons employed in the public service other than amply to reward them for 
their service, is oppressive, and ought not to be done under any pretence 

15 



114 HISTORY OF PRINCETON. 

whatever,— that it is the sense of this town, that petitions be sent to His 
Excellency the Governor, by the people of this Commonwealth, praying him 
to call a General Assembly together as soon as may be, to take under con- 
sideration the distresses of the good people of this Commonwealth, that 
some measures may be taken for their relief, particularly that industry and 
manufactures may be encouraged, and superfluities as much as possible, be 
avoided. And it is the sense of this town, that the making a paper curren- 
cy will, instead of granting relief, involve us in confusion, and that it be 
recommended to the good people, to cultivate a benevolent temper and dis- 
position towards their fellow mortals at this day of distress, and ihose that 
are strong, bear the infirmities of the weak. 

In 1787, in a copy of instructions given to the Hon. Moses 
Gill, the representative for that year, I find the following, among 
others, showing the town to have been early in favor of a pro- 
tective tariff: — 

3. That you use your influence, that the Produce and Manufactures of 
this Commonwealth, may be more effectually encouraged, by laying duties 
on those of foreign countries, and granting premiums on our own, — and 
that foreign superfluities may be prohibited, and also the exportation of wool 
and flax. 

In the adoption of the present state constitution the town 
was nearly or quite unanimous in its favor. On the question of 
the present national constitution they were more divided, their 
vote however being thrown by their delegate, Mr. Fuller, against 
it. They also supported, with entire unanimity. Gen. Washing- 
ton and Mr. Adams's administration, and adhered, uncompro- 
misingly, to the federalists during the succeeding. In common 
with the rest of New-England, their indignation was repeat- 
edly expressed, at the passage of the embargo of 1807, and 
the subsequent measures of the dominant national party. 
The following conclusion of a petition, savoring somewhat of 
modern nullification, to the Legislature on the subject of the 
embargo, embodies the unanimous sentiment of the town at 
this time : — 

Apprehending from the past that our feeble voice would be disregarded 
in the general government, and reposing confidence in your wisdom and 
zeal for the public good— and it is with pleasure we hear the resolves of the 
Senate of this state, stating that a suitable remonstrance be prepared, and 
immediately forwarded to the Congress of the United States, expressing 
their opinion, &c. Such proceedings will receive the sanction and approba- 
tion of your memorialists, or any other measure your prudence and patriotism 
may dictate, fur securing to our common country its Constitution, its Liberty, 
and its Prosperity ; and icc hereby pledge oursclres to support, icith oiir lives 
and property, nil such constitutional and prudent measures for the attainment 
of these important objects, as your irisdoyn may approve. 

Soon after the declaration of the war of 1812, a committee 
of the town was appointed to draw up a remonstrance against 



HISTOKY OF PRINCETON. 115 

the measure. Of this committee the Rev. Dr. Murdock was 
chairman, and reported to the town a well written and elah- 
orate document, ably setting forth the objections to the war, 
and the supposed insufficiency of the causes alleged. Nothing 
but its length prev'ents us from transcribing it. The following 
resolutions, unanimously passed at the same time, will furnish 
the views of the town on the matter. They do not differ from 
the general sentiment of the New-England people at the time. 

Resolved, That we feel deeply sensible of our obligations to maintain and 
support, with patriotic fidelity, the laws enacted by a government elected 
by the people ; but from any communications cr disclosures made your gov- 
ernment, the present crisis does not, in our opinion, sanction an exptdient 
of such distressing tendency. 

Resolved, That we view with just indignation and abhorrence, the meas- 
ures pursued by our rulers to involve us in an unjust and partial war with 
Great-Britain, without any preparations of defence, and of treating with an 
alliance that belligerent whose aggressions have been so enormous, and 
whose depredations were first committed on our neutral rights. 

Resolved, That we view with deep regret and great concern the alarming 
situation of our commerce, so essential to our agricultural interest, and so 
inseparably connected and reciprocal in their support, that when one suft'ers 
the other must receive an equal injury : and while we are told that these 
measures are pursued for tlie protection of commerce, we are convinced 
that no confidence can be indulged towards the majority in Congress, and 
that every measure has a direct tendency to subvert our commercial rights. 

Resolved, That whenever our country shall be invaded by any foreign 
foes whatever, we pledge our lives and property to defend our coast and 
government, to the utmost of our power. 

From that period to this the town persevered in an almost 
unanimous and uninterrupted (except at the election of Gov. 
Eustis, in 1823,) adherence to the dominant party of the 
State, and are at this moment heart and hand against the 
national administration. 



CHAPTER IX. 

Biographical Notices. 



The following biographical sketches, the materials of which 
have been kindly furnished me, have been thought not inap- 
propriate to the place they occupy, both from the fact that 
many of the personages are, or have been, familiar to those 
for whom I write, and that their history is closely interwoven 
with that of the town. From those for which materials have 



116 HISTORY OF PRINCETON. 

been furnished, and all of which I would gladly insert, had I 
not already far transgressed the limits originally prescribed, I 
have selected the more important, adding few beyond those of 
the ministers of the different societies, which succeed in the 
order of their settlement. 

The Rev. Timothy Fuller, the first minister of Princeton, 
was born at Middleton, originally part of Salem, in this state, 
in 1738. His ancestors emigrated from England to this coun- 
try in 1628, and their descendants still retain possession of 
lands in Middleton, which have continued in unbroken suc- 
cession in the family from that date to this. He entered, at 
the age of nineteen, the University at Cambridge, where he 
graduated, with the customary honors, in 1760. He then 
commenced his theological studies, and having received the 
usual license to preach, appeared as a candidate for settlement 
in Princeton in 1765, where he supplied the pulpit at inter- 
vals for two years, the district being at that time probably 
unable to support a settled clergyman. In March, 1767, he 
received from the church and town a nearly unanimous in- 
vitation to become their minister, and having accepted it, was 
ordained on the 9th of September following. In 1770 he 
married Sarah Williams, the daughter of the Rev. Abraham 
Williams, the minister of Sandwich, in this state. 

Of Mr. Fuller's ministry at Princeton we have already spo- 
ken in another place. It seems to have been quite as suc- 
cessful as that of most ministers of that date, until 1774, when, 
from causes already made known, the harmony between him 
and his people was interrupted. How good grounds there 
were for this, I have attempted as far as possible to ascertain. 
It is not improbable, that in the revolutionary enthusiasm 
which pervaded his people in common with those of the whole 
country, and in the ardor of action which burned around him, 
Mr. Fuller's coolness and deliberation alone may have been 
construed into disaffection to the righteous cause of his coun- 
try. This was at once sufficient to conjure up all the sins of 
omission and commission, which, in the fastidious judgement 
of some of their parishioners, in a long course of years few 
ministers are exempt from, and which, in ordinary circum- 
stances pass unheeded by, and to transform them, in the phrensy 
of the moment, to grievances of the deepest die. In the ex- 
citement of the time Mr. Fuller's opponents, some of them, per- 
haps, instigated by feelings of private malice, were incapable 



HISTORY OF PRINCETON. 117 

of doing him justice. Their action, as detailed in the previous 
pages, was such as no judicious man could approve. The 
excited revolutionary feeling every where prevalent is its best 
apology.* 

One of the earliest causes of dissatisfaction to his people, 
arose from a sermon, preached at the request of his parish, to the 
'■'■minute men,^' enlisted for the defence of the commonwealth. 
Mr. Fuller on that occasion, took for his text, — " Let not him 
that girdeth on the harness boast himself as he that putteth 
it off." The sermon was one of warning and caution, and 
the zealous " sons of liberty" construed it to be a designed 
discouragement to the revolutionary cause. Mr. Fuller's true 
views were expressed in his sermon ; he always declared, dur- 
ing the latter part of his life, as he did at the time of the 
struggle, that he was friendly to the principles of the revolu- 
tion, and anxiously desired that success should crown the ef- 
forts of his countrymen ; but he was naturally cautious, and 
accustomed to act with great coolness and deliberation, and he 
considered the struggle with the mother country as very hazard- 
ous, if not a hopeless one. He believed that we were not 
prepared for it, and that prudence and true wisdom would dic- 
tate a longer delay. 

Owino; to these difficulties, Mr. Fuller was dismissed in 
1776. He removed, soon after, to Martha's Vineyard, and 
preached to the society in Chilmark until the war was ended. 
He then removed to Middleton, where, in 1782, he commenc- 
ed a suit against the town, which, in the following year, was 
decided in their favor. After this he returned to Princeton, 
where he devoted himself to the cultivation of a farm, and for 
several years appears quite conspicuous in the affairs of the 
town — a circumstance indicating an oblivion of all former 
difficulties. Indeed, soon after his return to Princeton, all 
those who had been most opposed to him, became reconciled, 
and were, in a few years, warmly attached to him, and ranked 
amongst his most intimate friends. In 1788, he represented 
them in the convention which approved and adopted the pres- 



* Says an old lady, conversant with all the particulars of this controversy, 
to the author on one occasion, " Mr. Fuller told the town they would nev- 
er be prospered in their minister lor their treatment to him ;" and, continues 
she, in a mournful faith in the inflictions of retributive justice, "they nev- 
er have been;" — a fact, to whatever source attributable, few, in reading 
their history, will be inclined to dispute. 



118 HISTORY OF PRINCETON. 

ent federal Constitution — Hon. Moses Gill, afterwards Lieut. 
Governor, being the opposing candidate — and gave his vote 
against that instrument, on the ground of its recognition of 
slavery — a fact evincing at this period, at least, an uncompro- 
mising advocacy of the rights of man. In 1796 he removed 
to Merrimac, N. H. where he continued to reside, employed 
in agricultural pursuits, until his death in July, 1805, at the 
age of sixty-seven. 

The Rev. Thomas Crafts, the successor of Mr. Fuller in 
the ministry at Princeton, was the son of Dr. John S. Crafts 
of Newton, who removed to North-Bridge water, soon after 
the birth of his son, and where the youth of the latter was 
spent. In 1779 he entered the University at Cambridge, 
where he graduated in 1783, and entered immediately upon 
his theological studies. At the completion of them in 1786, 
he appeared as a candidate for settlement at Princeton, and 
received and accepted an invitation from the church and town 
to become their pastor. He was ordained on the 28th of June 
of the same year, and continued minister of the town for five 
years. Daring the latter part of this period, his health declin- 
ed so rapidly as to render it impossible for him to perform the 
duties of his office, and obliged him to ask a dismission. This 
was reluctantly granted in March, 1791. Soon after this, he 
removed to Bridgewater, in which place and Weymouth he 
resided for eleven years, preaching in vacant parishes as his 
health would allow. In 1802, having regained his health, he 
was settled over a church and society in Middleborough, in the 
county of Bristol, known as the " Middleborough and Taun- 
ton Precinct," where he continued a faithful and devoted 
preacher of the gospel, and in the most perfect harmony with 
the people of his charge, until his death, January 19, 1819, 
at the age of sixty. About the time of his settlement at 
Princeton he married a daughter of the Rev. John Porter, 
the first minister of North-Bridgewater. His widow is still 
living, and resides with her children in that place. Of the 
affection and esteem in which Mr. Crafts was held by the 
people of Princeton, in many of whom the recollection of him 
is still vivid, I have spoken elsewhere. 

The Rev. Joseph Russell, the third minister of Prince- 
ton, received and accepted from the church and town an invi- 
tation to settle over them on the 7th of December, 1795, and 
was ordained March 16, 1796. He continued their ministei 



HISTORY OF PRINCETON. 119 

until 1801, when he asked a dismission. This led to some 
slight controversy between him and the town, which has been 
detailed in another place. His request was however granted ; 
soon after which he removed to Troy, New-York, where he 
entered at once into mercantile pursuits, and where he still 
resides a wealthy and high-minded merchant, and a pious, 
consistent Christian. 

The Rev. James Miirdock, D. D. the fourth minister of 
Princeton, was born at Saybrook, Connecticut, February 16, 
1776, and educated at Yale College, where he graduated in 
1797. While in college he ranked among the first scholars of 
his class, and particularly in mathematics and the learned lan- 
guages he had no superior. He then became a preceptor, first, 
in the public grammar-school at New-Haven, and afterwards, 
in Hamilton Oneida Academy, in both of which he acquitted 
himself with honor. In January, 1801, he was licensed to 
preach, by the Oneida association, and in the autumn of that 
year President Dwight recommended him to the people of 
Princeton, as a fit man to be their pastor. They accordingly 
applied to him to preach among them, and after hearing him 
several weeks, the church and parish gave him an almost 
unanimous call, which he accepted, and was ordained in 
June, 1802. Besides the duties of a pastor. Dr. Murdock 
gave private instruction to a considerable number of young 
men of Princeton and the vicinity, some of w horn he fitted for 
entering college, others for a counting-house, and a large 
number for teachers of district schools. In the year 1810-11, 
there was a revival of religion under his ministry, of which an 
account is given in the Panoplist for June, 1811, pp. 11 — 16. 
As fruits of this revival, between thirty and forty new mem- 
bers were added to the church. That period is still remem- 
bered by many as one of peculiar interest. 

In the summer of 1815, Dr. jMurdock was chosen pro- 
fessor of the learned languages in the University of Vermont, 
at Burlington, and notwithstanding the harmony which had 
always existed between him and his people, and the prospect 
of his future usefulness among them, an ecclesiastical council 
decided that it was his duty to accept the appointment in the 
university. At Burlington he not only performed the duties 
of his own department, but also supplied, for some time, the 
department of mathematics and natural philosophy. His rep- 
utation was now such, that the trustees of Dartmouth college 



120 HISTORY or PRINCETON. 

invited him to the professorship of Latin and Greek in that 
institution, made vacant by the removal of Dr. Moore to the 
presidency of WiUiams college ; this appointment, however, 
was not accepted by him. 

In the winter of 1819, Moses Brown, Esq. of Newbury port, 
founded his professorship of Sacred Rhetoric and Ecclesias- 
tical History, in the Theological Seminary at Andover, and 
by the recommendation of professors Woods and Stuart, he 
appointed Dr. Murdock the first professor on his foundation.. 
When informed of this appointment and solicited to accept it, 
he very much hesitated ; partly from a dislike of the form of 
the new professorship, and the kind of labors it would impose 
upon him, and partly from his attachment to the institution 
with which he was then connected. By the urgent persuasion,, 
however, of Dr. Woods, he was induced to accept, resigned 
his office at Burlington, removed to Andover, and was install- 
ed in June, 1819. The August following, the University of 
Cambridge conferred on him the honorary degree of D. D. 
But difficulties soon arose between him and his colleagues, 
which continued, year after year, and finally produced his re- 
moval from office in October, 1828. Dr. Murdock then re- 
moved to New-Haven, where he has since resided, devoting 
himself to his favourite pursuit, ecclesiastical history. 

Besides publishing some occasional discourses, one of which 
on the nature of the Atonement, printed at Andover in I8'23y 
produced much sensation. Dr. jMurdock is best known to the 
public by his elements of Dogmatic History, translated from 
the German of Professor Wm. Muenscher of Marpurg ; 1 vol. 
12mo. New-Haven, 1830. And by his new translations of 
Dr. Mosheim's well known Institute of Ecclesiastical History, 
with copious notes, original and selected, in three large vol- 
umes, 8vo. New-Haven, 1832. This last work is now a 
classic in most of the Theological Institutions in the country. 
At the present time Dr. Murdock is understood to be engaged 
in writing a continuation of Mosheim's history, or a general 
church history, from the year 1700 to the presents time — a 
labor of vast difficulty, especially in this country, where so 
few good libraries can be found, since most of the facts lie dis- 
persed in innumerable books and records, and have not been 
collected in any single publication. 

The Rev. Samuel Clarke, the successor of Dr. Murdock 
in the ministry at Princeton, was born at New-Boston, N. H. 



HISTORY OF PRINCETON. 121 

on the 21st of April, 1791. Until his fifteenth year Mr. 
Clarke was engaged in agricultural pursuits, although he re- 
marks, in a letter to the author, " from the age of six it was 
my unwavering determination to devote my life to the Chris- 
tian ministry." He was graduated, at Dartmouth College in 
1812, at the age of twenty-one, and immediately commenced 
his professional studies under the direction of the Rev. Dr. 
Channing of Boston. In 1815 he began preaching, and a 
short time subsequently appeared as a candidate for settle- 
ment in Princeton. In 1816, August 26, Mr. Clarke re- 
ceived a call from the town, by a vote of 102 to 44, to settle 
with them as the successor of Dr. Murdock, from whom he 
was understood, however, to differ in some supposed essential 
points of religious faith. Owing to the non-concurrence of the 
church, and the unhappy divisions which have been narrated 
undqr another head, he declined complying with the request of 
the town. Possessed of those mild and amiable virtues, which 
adorn the Christian minister, while they render him extreme- 
ly averse to the bustling scenes of controversy, it is not sur- 
prising that Mr. Clarke negatived this call. Yet the qualities 
which prompted his refusal were precisely those which en- 
deared him still more to the people, who, unwilling to relinquish 
their hold upon their favorite candidate, renewed their request 
in October of the same year, with an additional pecuniary 
encouragement, a majority of the church still non-concurring, 
and a second negative answer was returned. In January, of 
the following year, a petition, addressed to the selectmen, re- 
questing them to call a town meeting, for the purpose of again 
renewing the call to Mr. Clarke, was circulated, and signed 
by 105 legal voters. On the 11th of February the meeting 
was held, and the call renewed. As the church still refused 
concurrence, the whole matter, as before stated, was referred 
to an ecclesiastical council. The result of this body we have 
already given. 

Mr Clarke was ordained as minister of Princeton on the 
18th of June, 1817. A majority of the church of course se- 
ceded, " not," to use their own language in a previous com- 
munication to My. Clarke. '' through any disaffection to your 
person, nor any deficiency in your abilities, or any fault we 
find in your moral character." The reasons which actuated 
them were two, which they regarded as " of primary consid- 
eration." The validity of the first of these is a question which 
16 



122 HISTORY OF PRINCETON. 

Still divides the religious community ; the second, if honestly- 
entertained, all must acknowledge to be of great force. " The 
first is," say the church, " because we cannot consent to give 
up our riglits and privileges, and sanction the irregularity of 
receiving a minister, in whose call and settlement we have 
not a 2J''i"''0rij and distinct choice.'^ " The other reason," 
they continue, after laboring to establish the soundness of the 
first, ''why we cannot consent to receive you as our minister, 
is, because we are not satisfied with the doctrines which you 
have preached, and which, it is presumed, you will continue 
to preach, should you be settled here." 

Mr. Clarke continued to preach at Princeton for fifteen 
years. That he was placed in a somewhat trying and per- 
plexing situation, by the divisions that grew out of his settle- 
ment, is certain. Yet, of a mild and amiable disposition, un- 
compromisingly devoted to his principles, and possessing talents 
of no ordinary class, perhaps no man could have gone through 
the fiery ordeal of l3itter religious animosities with greater 
success, or was better qualified to discharge the responsibilities 
which his peculiar position created. Certainly no one could 
have done it with less offence to both friends and foes. 

In 1832, owing to continued ill health, which the bleak 
winters of Princeton were little calculated to improve, Mr. 
Clarke felt it his duty to ask a dismission from the society in 
this place. His request having been reluctantly granted by 
his people, on the 17th of June, of the same year, the day 
which concluded fifteen years of his ministry, he preached his 
farewell sermon. Immediately on leaving Princeton he re- 
ceived a call to settle over the First Congregational Society 
in Uxbridge, and was installed January 9th, 1833. Mr. 
Clarke still contiues to preach in Uxbridge, to the general sat- 
isfaction of his parish. 

The Rev. Alonzo Phillips, the sixth minister settled in 
Princeton, was born at Bradford, Mass. September 1st, 1788. 
He was the son of Capt. Timothy Phillips, a revolutionary 
patriot of that place, with whom he lived during his minority, 
employed in agricultural or mechanical pursuits. At the age 
of twenty he commenced his studies with the design of enter- 
in» the ministry. With these views he began his preparatory 
studies, at the Academy in Bradford, in 1808 or 1809, at the 
completion of which he entered the college at Middlebury, Vt. 
in the fall of 1811, or the spring of 1812, and graduated in 



HISTORY OF PRINCETON. 123 

1815. Soon after graduating from this seminary, he com- 
menced his theological course in the Institution at Andover, 
and was licensed to preach in 1818. In 1820 he appeared 
before the Presbyterian Society in Princeton, as a candidate 
for settlement, and on the same year received and accepted an 
invitation from them to become their minister. He was or- 
dained June, 1820. From the time of his settlement, nearly 
to that of his dismission, a period of sixteen years, he enjoyed 
the unshaken confidence of his church, to which large additions 
were made under his ministry. He continued to preach at 
Princeton until 1836, when he was dismissed. The causes 
which led to this, and the circumstances attending it, have 
already been narrated. Soon after his dismissal, he removed 
with his family to Newburyport, where he still resides. 

The Rev. Appleton Morse, the seventh minister, and the 
first of the Baptist persuasion, settled in the town, was born at 
Hopkinton, March 7th, 1805. He completed his studies, pre- 
paratory to a collegiate course at the High-School in Westboro', 
and entered the Freshman class of Brown University in June, 
18'24. During his sophomore year, however, ill health obliged 
him to leave the University and suspend for a time his stud- 
ies. On his recovery he did not resume his course at the 
University, but entered, in September, 1827, upon the regular 
theological course at the Institution at Newton, where he 
graduated in the fall of 1830. In September of the same 
year, he received and accepted an invitation from the Baptist 
Church in Princeton to become their pastor. His ordination 
took place in the October following. He continued in this 
relation for a year and a half, when, at his own request, he 
received a dismission, and soon after became pastor of the Bap- 
tist Society in Fitchburg, where he still resides. 

The Rev. John P. Cowles, the successor of Mr. Clarke, 
was born at Colebrook, Litchfield county. Conn, on the 21st 
of January, 1805. His school education previous to preparing 
for college was such as is usual in the district schools of his 
native state. His preparation for college was made entirely 
at home, without the facilities of academical instruction, under 
the occasional private tuition of Dr. Emerson, now of the 
Andover Theological Institution. At the age of eighteen he 
entered Yale College, where he graduated with high honors 
in 1826. Soon after, he commenced a theological course in 



124 HISTORY OF PRINCETON. 

the same Institution, which he completed in four years, spend- 
ing in the interim one year in other employments. After 
spending another year in New-Haven, in somewhat miscella- 
neous studies and pursuits, he commenced, and, in 1833, ac- 
cepted an invitation to settle at Princeton. He was ordained 
July 19th, 1833, and continued his ministerial labors until 
October, 1834, when he asked and received a dismission. In 
February, 1836, Mr. Cowles accepted the appointment of 
Professor of Hebrew Literature and the History of the Jewish 
Church, in the Oberlin Collegiate Institute, at Obei'lin, Lorain 
county, Ohio, and, having signified his acceptance of the office, 
entered at once upon its duties. This is his present location. 
The Institution with which Mr. Cowles is connected is of 
a most decidedly religious character, designed to impart a 
thorough Christian education to its numerous students. It has 
a female and a preparatory department connected with it. 
The right of free discussion and anti-slavery are the charac- 
teristic principles of its managers and officers. 

Rev. Nehemiah G. Lovell, the second Baptist minister 
in Princeton, was born August 2d, 1806, at Rowley, Mass. 
where his father, a Baptist clergyman, now settled at Fall 
River, then resided. In 1810 his father removed to Bridge- 
water, where Mr. Lovell spent most of his time previous to 
entering college. In 1821 he entered upon mechanical em- 
ployments, which he continued, with little interruption, until 
the spring of 1826, when he commenced the study of the 
Latin language, with the design of pursuing a collegiate 
course. After three months' application, sickness compelled 
him to suspend his studies until the next spring. In 1829 he 
entered Brown L'niversity, and, on the 4th of July, 1830, 
united with the First Baptist Church in Providence, from 
which he received, in August, 1833, a license to preach the 
gospel. In September, of the same year, he graduated from 
the university, and entered immediately on his theological 
course at Newton, which, however, the weakness of his eyes 
obliged him to abandon after two months' study. In the 
March following, he commenced preaching at Princeton, with 
the intention, however, of resuming his studies at a future 
day. Soon after, receiving an invitation from the church to 
become their pastor, he finally accepted it, and was ordained 
on the 10th of July, 1834. Mr. Lovell continued his rela- 



HISTORY OF PRINCETON. 125 

tion to the church until November, 1836, when, at his request, 
having been dismissed, he became pastor of the Baptist 
church in Amherst, where he still continues his labors. 

The Rev. Elijah Demond, the present minister of the 
United Church and Society, received his collegiate education 
at Dartmouth College, Hanover, N. H. where he graduated 
in IS 16. He pursued his theological studies at Andover, 
where he completed them, and commenced preachino- in 
1820. He was installed as pastor of the Congregational 
Church and Society, in Princeton, October 26, 1836, and 
receives their cheerful support as an esteemed, faithful, and 
efficient minister. 

Of the various individuals, whose history is interwoven with 
that of the town, few stand more conspicuous, both from the 
important offices which he filled as well as his constant gen- 
erosity, than Hon. MOSES GILL. Mr. Gill was born at 
Charlestown, Mass. ih 1733. His early education was that 
of the common schools of the time. In early life he entered 
into mercantile pursuits, and, for a long course of years, main- 
tained the honorable character of an upright and liberal mer- 
chant. In 1759 he married Miss Sarah Prince, the only 
surviving daughter of the Rev. Dr. Prince, then pastor of the 
Old South Church, from whom he inherited a large portion 
of his land at Princeton. About the year 1767 Mr. Gill re- 
tired from business, and commenced residing at Princeton, 
during a portion of the time, and immediately became con- 
spicuous in the affairs of the town. Among other instances 
of his generosity at this period, was a Bible, presented to the 
the church under Mr. Fuller, which is mentioned as introduc- 
tory to the following letter, illustrative of the peculiar state of 
feeling in many of our country parishes at that time. 

Boston, December 0, 1769. 
Rev. and Dear Sir, — You may remember sometime in the summer past, 
you mentioned to me your desire tliat I would jjresent you willi a laro-e 
Bible, tliat the Scriptures might be publicly read every l^ord's day. I be- 
lieve my answer was : I was afraid it would have a tendency to make you 
shorten your other services ; however, upon my return home in the summer 
I spoke to a stationer for a large folio Bible, which is now come ; but I have 
one difficulty in my mind against sending it up ; that is, 1 have observed in 
some country places they are not fond in general of having the Scriptures 
read in public, because their time is taken up in that part of service that 
may as well be performed at home ; thougii 1 do n't know tiiat this is the 
case with you, as I never changed a word with any one of your people about 
this matter. Now, sir, if I should send it up, — you should introduce it, — 
your people generally dissatisfied, — it would perhaps make such a breach 



126 HISTORY OP PRINCETON. 

between you and them, as may never be fully healed ; and if I should be the 
means of it, I could never forgive myself, nor make amends to you ; though 
I am clear of an opinion that the Scriptures ought to be publicly read every 
Lord's day, as one part of the religious exercises. These are the difficulties 
that lay in my mind ; how far they have any weight in them, you can 
judge. 

The Bible is ready, and will be sent up whenever you shall say ; in the 
meantime you will make use of your known prudence and good judgement 
in introducing it. There is bound up with it the Church Services, tYm jjpoc- 
rypha, and Sternhold and Hopkins's Psalms, all which I think superfluous, 
and may be taken out by re-binding, if you think proper. 

In 1774 Mr. Gill represented the town in the General 
Court at Salem, and in the Provincial Congress at Concord. 
For many years subsequent he was also member of the state 
legislature, until his deviation to a seat at the senate board, 
in 1789. During the same year, he was transferred from this 
to a seat in the Executive Council. In 1794 he was elected 
Lieutenant-Governor under Mr. Adams — an office which he 
held until 1800, acting as Governor from the date of Gov. 
Sumner's death, June 7, 1799, until the inauguration of Mr. 
Strong, in May, 1800. At this time he was a candidate for 
the office of Governor, against the latter gentleman, receiving 
however but few votes. He was re-elected Lieutenant-Gov- 
ernor under him, and died immediately after, May 20th, 1800. 

In 1767 Mr. Gill lost- his first wife, and, in 1772, married 
Miss Rebecca Boylston, a niece of the late Thomas Boylston, 
Esq. She died in 17 — . 

Throughout his life Mr. Gill maintained the character of 
an upright man, a firm uncompromising patriot, a devoted 
husband, a liberal towsman, an exemplary public officer, and 
a consistent Christian. 

William Dodds, Esq. whose history for a long period of 
years, is more emphatically a part of the town's than that of 
any other single individual, was born at Lexington, Mass. 
November 6th, ] 748. He received no education in his early 
years, except that of a few weeks each winter in a district 
school. At the age of sixteen he removed to Holden, where, 
a few years after, he married Miss Anna Child, and removed 
to Princeton, were he continued to reside until his death, in 
1833, at the age of eighty-five. 

For thirty years, with only an occasional interruption, Mr. 
Dodds filled the office of Town Clerk, and his records, 
during that period, are a model of perfection and imitation, 
and evince a knowledge of business and of lesial forms and. 



HISTORY OF PRINCETON. 127 

technicalities, which (ow, aside from professional men, pos- 
sess. For several years he also represented the town in 
the state legislature. During the early period of his resi- 
dence in Princeton he employed most of the winters in 
teaching, either in that or the adjoining towns. In 1809 he 
received a justice's commission, which he continued to hold 
up to the time of his death. Until within a few years of the 
close of his life, he was accustomed to transact all the usual 
business within a justice's jurisdiction, both in this and some 
of the neighboring towns. Indeed, at this time, " Squire 
Dodds" might rank as the lawyer of the vicinity. During 
the latter part of his life his faculties became impaired, and, 
before his death, completely shattered. Few men have had 
the good fortune to enjoy more largely the esteem and respect 
of their townsmen, and still fewer more richly to deserve it. 
His sphere was in the humbler walks of life, yet his self- 
qualification for its duties, and his entire discharge of its 
responsibilities, mark him still the perfect man. 

Ward Nicholas Boylston, Esq. alias Ward Hallowell, 
was born in Boston, November 22d, 1749. His father, Ben- 
jamin Hallowell, Esq. was a native of Boston, and, at the 
time of the revolution, an officer in the Custom-House. His 
mother, Mrs. Mary Hallowell, was the daughter of Thomas 
Boylston, and sister to the second wife of the Hon. Moses 
Gill. He received his education in the free schools of Boston. 
In March, 1770, at the solicitation of his maternal uncle, 
Nicholas Boylston, Esq. the distinguished benefactor of Har- 
vard University, through a royal license, he dropped the name 
of Hallowell, and added to his christian name that of the 
above-mentioned uncle. 

In 1773, for the purpose of renovating his health, Mr. 
Boylston commenced a journey through Europe and Asia. 
He embarked on board the " King of Naples," bound from 
Boston to Newfoundland, October l'2th. From the latter 
place he sailed to Italy, and from thence proceeded to Tur- 
key, Syria, the Archipelago, Palestine, Egypt, and the Bar- 
bary Coast. He also passed through Geneva, Savoy, France, 
and Flanders. During this tour he kept a journal, which, re- 
plete with interest, and in many parts illustrative of Biblical 
history, is still preserved in manuscript, and which, it is to be 
hoped, may yet be given to the public. He arrived in Lon- 
don, 1775, and for the twenty-five subsequent years remained 



128 HISTORY OF PRINCETON. 

there engatictl in the various operations of trade. In 1800 
he sailed for Boston, where he arrived on the 15lh of May of 
the same year. 

From this time until his death, in 1827, he continued to 
reside during the larger portion of the year at Princeton, 
spending the winter months at his seat at Jamacia Plain, Rox- 
bury, Mass. Soon after Mr. Boylston's arrival in Boston, he 
confirmed to Harvard University a bequest of Nicholas Boyls- 
ton, Esq. amounting to J^' 23,200, as a foundation of the pro- 
fessorship of Rhetoric and Oratory, with the condition that 
John Quincy Adams should be appointed professor. In 1802 
he secured to the same Institution an annuity of ,^'100, to be 
distributed in prizes for the discussion of medical questions. 
In 1803, he paid to the treasurer of the Institution J^'500, as 
a fund, the income of which should be expended in additions 
to the library. To this succeeded the annuity of ^'60, to be 
distributed in Elocution prizes to undergraduates. Large 
bequests were made to the same institution in his will. 

In 1824 Mr. Boylston presented the town of Princeton 
with JjjiSOO, to lie as an accumulating fund, under certain con- 
ditions, until it should be suflicient to build a Town Hall. In 
addition to this, several acres of land were given them as a 
parsonage estate. At his death he also left them ^'500, the 
interest of which, after a certain time, is to be applied to the 
support of a congregational minister. Also, f^^OO, to lie un- 
der a similar condition, as an accumulating fund, the proceeds 
to be then applied to the support of poor widows and orphans. 
These sums are all now supposed to be forfeited. In addition 
to these, there were in his will large bequests to the town of 
West-Boylston, to whom, I believe, a portion of the forfeited 
lesacies to the town of Princeton revert. 



APPENDIX 



The following is the petition and resolve referred to in the 
note on page 16 : — 

PROVINCE OF THE MASSACHUSETTS BAY. 
To His Excellency Francis Bernard, Esq. Governor and Commander-in- 
chief in and over said Province, The Honorable His Majesties Council 
and House of Representatives, in general Court assembled, at Boston, the 
30th Day of December, Anno Domini, 17G7. 

The Petition of Titnothy Fuller of Princetown, in the County ol Worces- 
ter, Clerk, humbly shews — That, in the Month of September last, he was or- 
dained as a Minister in said Place — That the said Place is now in its Infancy 
and not ver}^ able to support the Gospel, but the Harmony and Unanimity 
that appeared among them to settle your Petitioner was a great Inducement 
to accept ol their Invitation at the small living of fifty-three Pounds six 
Shillings and eight Pence per Annum, which your Petitioner apprehends is 
as much as the}' are able to pay in their Present Circumstances — That the 
said Place labors under many difficulties by reason of the great Expense they 
have been and are necessarily obliged to be at, in finishing their Meeting- 
House, making and maintaining new Roads in a Wilderness Country — And 
greater than any new Town lately granted as they have no publick minis- 
terial Lands for the use of the first settled minister — That the Hill called 
Watchusett Hill lies within the Limitts of said Town, which belongs to the 
Province ; The whole Contents whereof are about five Hundred Acres, four 
Hundred Acres of which are mountain, barren and unfruitful, and never 
can be fitt for any Improvement as many of this honorable Court are well 
Knowing; That about one Hundred Acres of it upon the South Side nigh 
the Foot of the Hill, altho' very rocky and uneven, may possibly be im- 
proved as Pasture Land. 

Your Petitioner therefore humbly prays that, as an Encouragement to 
him (seeing there are no publick Lands reserved for the first settled Min- 
17 



130 APPENDIX. 

ister in said Place) you would, out of your wonted Goodness, grant unto 

him the said Province Land. 

And as in duty bound shall ever pray. 

TIMOTHY FULLER. 

We the Select-Men of Princetown unite our humble and earnest Desire 
that the Prayer of your Petitioner above may be granted for the Reasons 
assigned in the above Petition. 

And as in duty bound shall ever pray. 

PETER GOODENOW, ^ 
JOSEPH GIBBS, I Select-Men 

EBEiNEZER JONES, y of 
OLIVER DAVIS, | Princetown. 

BEiNJAMIN TAYNTER, J 



In the House of Representatives, January 20/A, 17(18. Resolved— That the 
Prayer of said Petition be granted and that the Tract of Land belonging to 
this Province lying in Princetown, in the County of Worcester, called 
Watchusett Hill, containing about five Hundred Acres, bounded East four 
Degrees North one Hundred and Si.\ty Rods on Watertown Farm, then 
North 46 Degrees East 160 Rods on said Watertown Farm, then North 97 
Rods on Muzzey's Farm now Keyes's, then North 23 west 70 Rods on 
Benjamin Houghton's Land, then westerly 135 Rods on said Houghton's 
Land, then 60 Rods on said Houghton's Land to a white Oak Tree, then 
South 55 west 253 Rods on Westminster Line to a red Oak Tree the corner 
of Mr. Allen's Farm, then East 21 Degrees South 100 Rods on said Allen's 
Farm, then running on said Allen's Farm about 190 Rods to the Bound first 
mentioned ; be granted to the said Timothy Fuller, his Heirs and Assigns 
forever, as an encouragement to him to continue in the faithfull Discharge 
of his Office in said .Princetown— Provided that He or his Heirs pay their 
Proportion of aTa.K of two pence Per Acre for three years, laid by the Gen- 
eral Court at their Session in January, A. D. 1760, upon all the unimproved 
Lands in said District of Princetown. 

Sent up for Concurrence — 

THOMAS GUSHING, Speaker. 

In Council, January 20«/i, 1768. Read and Concurred — 

A. OLIVER, Secretary. 

Consented to — 

FRANCIS BERNARD. 

A true Copy, Examined — 

P. JNO. COTTON, D. Secretary. 



H 77 7 

LEMr'07 



** ■¥, 



,0 v-, - ^^-^^J^ • 



% ^jW^'S ^f 



0' 
4 o. 






a5 '^:-r- 



'^^. 






-f^ 



.0' 



V 



^\ ,-s^ J V ' ^ ^ '>V' ^^- . A^' ^ /€P:'Y^ 






t.- 


0^ 








.^' 


^^. 


^o 


-Jii^ 


^li^" 






-i- 


•J f. 


^ 5 " 






r\ 








''- 


% ..^ 










•X- .^- 






-v ■" 




■j ■• s - 



o V' 






,0 



vO' 






O V 



V' 






.0- 



.0' 









-f- 



"^^-v 



^v ■< -' 



>• ."- ^ ^ 



.^^^ 



c^ 



■p^- 















A^' 



O 






->. 



A- 



0-^, 



v» '^•. ^' ^:Kr^^^-^ 



\^ 






•■^- ,-'?■ 



A- 



■A 



■i^- 






c^ 



A-'' » -v^..--, ^\- o <^ -A' -, -- ;-, 

-s' ■J''- - ':A -^v ' \' N^'' -^^ ■ . 4 II / 

' .A^' '^i, A ''..'■■■..'■• -^ °,\i.><i 

(A "o '/. \ -A 

\- . ''•■ O - ^.^ 

C^^ • ^ >. O ^ ^ 'A' 

.^■^..VaV>^- ..:^-A. •,;.y., A-^, 



•^, 



!■• 



.0 



-/-- 



o 



A"' ^ ' ,, 



,0 



o 



<; 






.0 -/■ , 



.0- 



"A A-- 



A 



^. 



^^. 






"^iiJ/-^^ 






o_ 



.^^ •/-.. 



o 






A' Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process. 

a'^ Neutralizing Agent: Magnesium Oxide 

1 Treatment Date: 



,-^ .^;:'.:^^ -^^ 



■ ' t ° \. 



MAY B98 



-^^. A- 



PRESERVATiON TECHNOLOGIES. LP. 
1 1 1 Thomson Park Drive 
Cianberry Township. PA 16066 



^"■^>, 



.^^ 



?y ^^ 



,H ^^ 



.^' 



.r 



.W?:?:;^.'^ 



,-N- 



y 



\^ 






0' 



.^^ 



,0 






^ 






.'^;^'^ 



7/;^:?^:^^', 



\^ 



o 



''■s-^' 



/^ V 



..■y 



'<^^ 



^^ 









^^0^ 



V,- ^> 






^0- 



% '■" v^" 



'^..A 



>>*, 









'ii- ' 



-i^j 



y. ^V 



aS O. 



X^-^ 



•-^ 



■,;4f^i 






r s 



^0' 
0^ 






-^-^^ v\^ 






A 



\ 



'-S^'C'^:^^ <?5 






>1 v-^55^ 



■0' i''^V C>- 



• n s ' 

A<^ „.. "-> ■''" 









,^' 



C, vX> 



vO' .l*". 



^^ 












A^ 



^ 



Ao^ 










-i 



C *T- N. MANCHESTER. 
INDIANA 









.r-' 









